


'Stupid Cupid, Stop Hitting On Me'

by Bluefire510



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: AU- Cupid, F/M, Luke Tries to Teach Julie About True Love, Matchmaking, Mild Language, Romantic Fluff, The Boys are Cupids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29463651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluefire510/pseuds/Bluefire510
Summary: Luke, a troublemaker cupid, meets Julie, who is also one of Love HQ's toughest cases to crack.She claims to have no desire to fall in love.But Luke is always up for a challenge.Let's see if he could get Julie to fall for her Perfect Match by next Valentine's Day.... and maybe teach her all about love while he's at it.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 80
Kudos: 258





	1. Chapter 1

Luke was in deep shit. 

Look, he had been in on the matchmaking game for a while, maybe not as long as someone like Wanda, or Harrison as she would rather be formally known, but he could hold his own down below, on Earth where the humans were. 

He was lucky, as far as cupids went. Out of all the many divisions, the different ways to go about helping people fall in love with their Perfect Match, Luke had been assigned to the Ambiance Unit, aiding in building the atmosphere, guiding persons to their Match through subtle tugs of the senses- 

Such as coaxing smells of the bakery’s freshest offerings to float down the street, providing the small breeze that would make the branches shudder and release petals onto the sidewalk, and, what was admittedly Luke’s favorite part- 

Supplying the sounds- particularly, the music- that got people turning their heads, maybe locking eyes with a beautiful stranger in the process. 

Luke had been gifted with great musical talents. Who knew where cupids really come from and how it happened, but he swore he had appeared with a guitar in his hand, ready to play music for the masses and bring people together. 

Music always had that power- to connect. 

And Luke thrived on it. He and his fellow musician cupids, Reginald (Reggie) and Alexander (Alex) would often go on their missions together, figuring it was best to work as a group and supply the romantic ambiance through their music. 

The thing about being cupids, as mentioned before, was subtlety. 

It had been jarring the first time Luke had gone on assignment on Earth and finding out firsthand that they were invisible to humans, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be noticed. 

Their music could still be heard.

No one would have been able to wipe the smile off Luke’s face when he started strumming his guitar, singing echoes of Sinatra or whatever was considered romantic staples, the smile growing even bigger when his assigned persons take notice of each other in the midst of the notes, offering a hand to dance or singing along, albeit offkey. 

But it was the intention that not only checked off another two names off his list but fueled his belief in all things love and music- two things often synonymous in Luke’s head. Could not have one without the other. 

Many often attributed these phantom tunes to faint playings of some radio nearby or the busker down the street, no matter- it always did the job. 

At least it was supposed to. 

If going by Luke instead of Lucas wasn’t enough of an indication, he was not the one to follow the same old, tired ways of matchmaking. Like thank Aphrodite the whole ‘bow and arrow’ thing was too archaic to continue (and talk about really messed up and really painful- ouch). 

Yeah, the music he was playing was nice and all, but what he wouldn’t give to up the tempo a bit, to nod at Alex, begging him to switch out his cajon for a full kit, and for Reggie to do the same with his cello and bring out the bass they all knew he could rock. 

Luke had already received judgmental looks for passing over the lyre and using the guitar instead, but like come on- the guitar was practically tied to his soul! It felt right. 

And when not up in HQ, he was down on the ground, gaining a sense of the sound landscape that was a far cry from the angelic instrumentals they had back home. He had picked up a few things over the years, things he wanted to try, especially from his brief stint in ‘90s L.A on an extensive assignment. 

So what he started to sprinkle in some  _ Nirvana _ into his setlist? 

Or some  _ Rush _ ? And, he would argue this to the ends of the universe, but  _ Green Day _ could totally be romantic!

Why was it so wrong for him to thrash around on his acoustic? Belting out the lyrics to the point of scratching his voice? Getting those lonely hearts’ blood pounding? 

Oh, right. 

_ Subtlety _ … 

Luke had made the bonehead mistake of picking up an electric guitar one day… 

(Look, the busker really shouldn’t have left it alone for more than a minute. But he had been  _ dying _ to hear what it would sound like.)

And maybe, just  _ maybe _ , he had thought it would have been great to bust it out for his next assignment- 

Let’s just say orthodontist Angus Rosenbaum, aged 62, and widowed librarian Maya Bernal, aged 58, were not feeling the love in this Chili’s tonight so to speak. 

(Note to self: Do not play  _ Mötley Crüe _ at a book club...)

Luke had never fucked up an assignment so badly. He honestly thought it would help, maybe jog their memories of being hot-blooded teens, too boosted by hormones to play it safe, maybe cut the bullshit and just ask each other out already!

Instead it ended in screaming, broken glass, and a group of middle-aged adults booking it out of the house in a hurry to call an exorcist. 

So yeah, that explained why he was on Harrison’s shit list right about now. 

Since then, he had been downgraded to a desk job- filing the paperwork for other cupids on call. Not like that would help get him back into Harrison’s good graces though. He was utterly terrible at it, with his penmanship deemed incomprehensible and how often he mixed up names and places or completely omitted key information, 

It was mind blowing how Harrison hadn’t already given up and sent him back out on the field just to be rid of him. 

And it was boring as hell. 

He missed playing his guitar. 

He missed Alex and Reggie, although those two often stopped by his desk to visit and fill him in on all the cool stuff the humans were doing on Earth.

He missed being around people, not cupids. They had always been much more interesting to observe. Way more fun too. But he couldn’t leave. Not without flagging the higher ups, and he would be sure to face an even harsher punishment on the way back, like maybe taking away his guitar for all eternity… 

Luke had been desperate to find other ways to leave, always badgering other cupids to help them out with their cases. He didn’t care if he had to get his hands dirty with Interference or, dare he say it, help with the Department of Grief and Mourning (so…much… crying- he couldn’t stand it). 

That was when the perfect opportunity fell on his lap. 

Luke had been stationed at his desk when he saw one of their best, Valeria, storm into Harrison’s office, face streaked in frustrated tears, fists curled at her sides. 

“I have had it!” he could hear her yell at their boss, even behind a shut door. 

“Clearly you don’t mean that-” 

“Utterly impossible! I have tried everything, Harrison.  _ Everything! _ ” 

“Why don’t you take a seat?” Harrison said in an attempt to quell her, the conversation now conducted at a more acceptable volume. 

By then a small group of them were huddled near the office, pretending not to eavesdrop but the work was as dry as it came, they were looking for any excuse not to do it. 

“Uh oh. Case #9102020 strikes again,” Kai, from his left, muttered. 

Luke frowned, “Case#9102020?” 

“Haven’t you heard?” 

He shook his head. He hated hearing work gossip, most of it was pretty mundane stuff anyway. But this time he was curious. Like what could have happened to have driven a pro like Valeria to the brink of a breakdown? 

The other cupid magically procured a file and handed it off to him, “Word on the street is that there’s a human down there who’s just not having it in the love department.” 

Luke was flipping through the folder, “You sure it wasn’t a mixup?” 

It was not that uncommon of a mistake for an aromantic to wind up in their database, but that would get resolved pretty quickly. He and the other cupids in his department knew better than to mess with them. 

Leanne from the desk behind him peered over his shoulder, pointing at a page, “Look at the numbers.” 

“The numbers?” And when he checked, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. 

This- this couldn’t be right. They were all joshin’ him, right? The whole office. Because this was impossible. 

_ “12 failed attempts? 8 Cupids called it quits?”  _

“Make that 9,” 

The door clicked open and everyone poofed back into their seats just as a still pissed Valeria walked out and a weary Harrison followed. 

Luke made sure to keep the file hidden under his jacket until the two had disappeared from view. 

He pored over it, reading up about the human who managed to go through cupids like crazy. Yeah, they were times where cupids weren’t successful and it required a couple of go arounds, but this? 

The comments had started off pretty tame: 

_ ‘Resistant to routine charming methods…’  _

_ ‘Difficult to work with. Uncooperative…’  _

But then it had gone downright nasty towards the end, one such cupid deeming this girl as an ‘abomination’ of sorts. 

Luke flipped back to the front, where the picture of the subject, Julie Molina, was attached. 

Huh. All he saw was a young woman with thick curly hair, glasses, and a toothy grin. Just a regular old human, and he couldn’t find it in himself to connect this face with the comments he read. 

Something compelled him to keep looking through the folder, studying up on this  _ Julie Molina _ , to see what was wrong here. 

It seemed like they were trying to get Julie to shack up with her Match, a coworker by the name of Nick. The results of their compatibility came back pretty high, harboring most of the same interests, similar group of friends, a shared history dating back since elementary school. 

It should have been a done deal. 

Yet, calls for coffee went unanswered, invites to the bar with their friends were declined. And all of Luke’s colleagues had done their best to curb her in the right direction, but always running into problems. Problems that, oddly enough, were never specified… 

There was already enough content in this folder to intrigue the shaggy-haired cupid, but it had been the note that someone, probably Harrison, had left behind next to her status that stirred him. 

A red X. 

Fuck. 

Luke had only heard of rumors of a red X, but he had never seen one with his own eyes. 

This file was bound for the discard pile- no man’s land, where all the people casted off as ‘unlovable’ go, never to be matched, never to fall in love. 

Sentenced to a life of loneliness? Luke couldn’t even imagine. No one should ever have to be alone. Like, literally the thought burned through his whole being, refusing to believe in such a reality. Everyone deserved their chance at love, even this Julie Molina. 

Alright, that settled it. 

He was gonna take this case. 

Had reading the file made the task all the more daunting? Yeah. 

But thankfully Luke was both desperate and stubborn- oh and eager for a challenge. Because if he managed to pull this off, to do what no higher-caliber cupid was able to do and get this girl to fall in love, then bye-bye paperwork. 

It was gonna be great. It had to be. 

Of course Harrison would never go for it, would never formally assign him this case even if he asked. He was still technically serving out his punishment. 

He may have to take matters into his own hands. 

* * *

Luke popped down to Earth. 

Just for a bit. 

Purely for recon, he told himself. 

He technically wasn’t leaving his post to go on an unsanctioned mission. Just… taking a stroll… outside of the HQ…

And outside of Julie Molina’s place of work. 

It was this big building in the middle of the city, he couldn’t find a sign and he had left behind the file so he didn’t remember what exactly she did for a living. Something serious he surmised as he caught her leaving, wearing a blazer and trousers. 

Alright. It was go time. 

He trailed behind her unabashedly, just observing her as she walked onto the street. There seemed to be no sign of Nick anywhere, but he kept his eyes peeled. 

And just in case, Luke summoned his guitar. If Nick were to show up all of the sudden to join Julie on her journey, then it was up to him to set the mood. 

He didn’t plan on using his methods so fast, not when there was a high chance it might not work (like what was going to set his powers apart from the other cupids who had tried before?). 

Luke needed to gauge what kind of girl Julie was in order to help her. 

The file could only give him so much information- date of birth, family, affiliates, dating history. But there could be something about her that the others didn’t pick up. Luke liked to think of himself as a human expert, having been one to enjoy being on Earth and absorbing as much as he could about their way of life. 

She seemed to walk with a purpose, taking long confident strides, although the upper part of her body was closed in on itself, arms crossed, back hunched over slightly, her voluminous curls swaying as she moved- 

No, more like she was shaking her head, side to side, as if she was listening to some music. But there were no earbuds or anything like that on her person, but she was humming a little tune. 

Luke’s ears perked up at the melody, instantly vibing with it. It was only a soft spoken tune but the girl was into it too, it didn’t take too long for the hums to transition into mumbles, and for the mumbles to turn into words- 

And before he knew it- 

_ Wow.  _

Julie was… singing. 

Her voice nearly made him stop dead in his tracks. Even above the din of passerbys and traffic, he could tell it was a sweet sound, nothing he had ever heard before in all his years of existence, and it was just… drawing him closer to her. 

Luke began strumming something, in tune with her voice, wanting to give her something in return, already feeling he had already been gifted something precious. 

Abomination or not, this girl had pipes, and he was only a musician, he had to play. 

He hadn’t been too far away from her, but Julie turned around once the sound of the guitar reached her ears. Yeah, that was to be expected. But what threw Luke off kilter, again for the second time that night, was the lack of the absent stare he would usually get when he played amongst the humans. 

In fact, her eyes didn’t wander around the area, over the other pedestrians on the sidewalk, trying to pinpoint the source of the music. 

No, they were trained on exactly where he was standing. 

Luke froze, unsure if this was a trick or not. Because it totally was. There was no way- 

“Not another one!” she groaned, her face shifting into a kind of grimace at the sight of him. 

Holy shit. 

Now Luke knew what exactly had been conveniently left out of her file- 

Turned out Julie was able to see cupids… 


	2. Chapter 2

There wasn’t enough time for Luke to stop and think ‘What the hell?! How could she see me?’ because Julie, the human, was already well on her way down the street. 

Fuck. He couldn’t lose her. 

He caught up with her, his guitar bumping against his chest, “Wait, wait, hold on. _Hold on!_ ”

Now Luke felt he was going crazy because Julie didn’t acknowledge him, her stare fixed straight ahead. 

“Human, helloooo?” he waved a hand in front of her face, just to make sure. 

She scowled and swatted him away, like Luke could feel her hand push against his- another interesting development. 

“You could touch me too?!” 

Again, she ignored him, turning the corner and nearly getting absorbed by the crosswalk crowd.

And if any theories Luke had about humans now being able to see cupids (hey he hadn’t been down here in a while!) had been quickly trashed when pedestrians phased through his form seamlessly as he struggled to keep up with Julie. 

Yeah, walking had never been his thing. It had always been ‘poof here’ or ‘poof there’. Or this girl Julie was no stranger to cardio… 

Soon they reached a less busy part of town and the girl slowed considerably. 

“A-Alright,” he panted, now at her side, “Julie Molina. That you, right?” 

Silence.

“I will take that as a ‘yes’” 

Wow, this girl was a prickly one. But then again, he had never ever spoken to one before, a human one, so he could be doing approaching this wrong. 

“So I guess you know… I’m a Cupid. Your own personal matchmaker…” 

Right, this was weird. He had never given a spiel about his line of work. It was kind of a given what he did. 

“I’m here to rescue you from a life of loneliness?” he tried again. 

Yeah no. That was… that was awful. 

Again, nothing. 

Then he watched her pull out her phone and hold it to her ear. 

“Hey, I’m trying to talk to you! You know it’s kinda rude-” he felt a swift kick to his leg tripping him up. 

“You know what’s rude? Harassing someone when they’re just trying to go about their day!” she spoke into the phone, which was odd because it didn’t seem to be on- ohhhh. 

Of course, he was still invisible to much of the population. She wouldn’t want to seem like she was yelling at air. A little trick she must have picked up from all the cupids that had come her way. 

“Look, I’m just trying to help you,” 

“That’s what they all said…” And in the privacy of a near empty street, Julie gave him a pointed stare before entering a building, “Before I kindly told them to fuck off to whatever cloud you guys are spying on us from.” 

Luke was only a step behind her, “Clouds... why you humans always think we chill on clouds? Wait, you know what, that’s not what I’m here for.” 

“Right, you’re here to fix what’s wrong with my love life-” 

“More like a lack of one,” 

The glare he got in response told him he did not say the right thing. But he had seen her file! And her dating history had been, quite honestly, easy to memorize. 

With it being a short list and all… (No shame in that).

“Alright, so what’s it gonna take for you to leave?” Julie was speeding up a flight of stairs (ugh, more walking?) “Normally I would get creative, but I’m too tired today.” 

“Creative, huh?” He was curious, following her up a couple floors, “What did you even do to Valeria anyway? Never seen her that mad.” 

“Made her watch _Riverdale_ with me,” she said, laughing at the memory, “Kept asking her to Match me with every hot person on screen. And cried when she said no. May have been drunk when I did.” 

He couldn’t fight the slight upward tick on the edge of his mouth, on the verge of a smile, “Clever.” 

“You think?” 

He should disapprove, but the troublemaker in Luke found the whole thing hilarious. He firmly stood by his earlier thought- humans were _way_ more fun than his stuffy coworkers (apart from Reggie and Alex). 

Julie pocketed her phone, openly staring at him in a ‘you’re different’ kind of way. He couldn’t tell if she appreciated it, which was concerning. Usually cupids were able to get a feel for feelings, being empaths and all, but he couldn’t get a clear reading from her. 

Geez, what kind of human was she? He was sure to have remembered the kind of human who was immune to love magic from HR (Human Resources… the resource about all things humans). 

They rounded a corner and they ended up where, presumably, her apartment was. 

“I give props to where props are due. But also kinda relieved I wasn’t subjected to such torture.” he continued, not bothering to bring up more of her oddities. She must have heard it all before. 

Julie smirked, “Just wait. I’ll cue up Netflix.” 

“Inviting me in? What will the neighbors think?” he joked. 

“They’ll think ‘there goes Julie, walking into her apartment alone as always’,”

“Right,”

Wow, 10 minutes with this girl, and Luke had already forgotten that he was meant to be invisible. 

He tried to read into what she had just said. There didn’t seem to be any bitterness in her tone when she said ‘alone as always’, in fact she seemed quite content with that fact, then again his whole ‘feelings detector’ was out of whack. 

Julie turned the key and opened the door to the apartment, not even bothering to slam the door in his face and he cautiously stepped inside. 

Her place was cozy though bare.

There was this warmth to the loft apartment, with pictures of friends and family lining the mantle of the industrial fireplace, a blue couch that had a bit of bounce to the cushions and with an abundance of pillows, stacks of books littered all over the floor for there was no more space on her shelves. 

It looked lived in but by her and only her. A door left ajar gave Luke a peek into a bedroom, only one. No roommates it seemed. 

This was the first time he had been invited into a human’s home. Usually it was a pop in/ pop out situation whenever he was on Earth. Like what were manners to being like him? But now he felt strangely about being here, like he was imposing. 

He closed the door while Julie shed her blazer and draped it over the couch. Luke lingered near the seating area and the girl paid him no mind while she was going about her night routine. 

She went to her kitchen, fishing through her freezer, “I’ll humor you for like a couple minutes, but once my dinner heats up, you better be gone.” 

“How could you see us?” the question leaving him before he could think twice, the uncanny settling in his bones, holding onto his guitar as he approached the counter where Julie was tearing into a frozen pizza box.

“Are you magic or what?”

“Or what. If I knew then I would stop. Don’t like waking up to some new stranger dressed in white watching over me and judge me for my choices. I have been to therapy before.” 

Wow, the other cupids had no chill. And yet, she let him into her place? It could be she just knew not to expect any privacy, not since she started receiving unwelcome visitors… 

He bristled at that, “Yeah, I’m sorry. I get how crazy that it must be. But we’re just trying to do our job. Just trying to help.” 

“Don’t need or want your help. I’m fine with how things are,”

Julie read the instructions on the box and preheat the oven. Coming back around, she took stock of the strange guy in her apartment.

“And what’s with the guitar? You serenade people into submission or something?” 

“To ‘soften the barriers of the heart’ to be more specific, yeah,” he sarcastically quoted the handbook. Apparently that was what musical cupids did, but it was a rather dainty way of putting it, at least in Luke’s opinion. 

Julie appeared to agree, making a sour face at the wording before warming up to it, “You should write that down.” 

“What? For like a song?” 

“Yeah. Might be fun,” she shrugged, now off to fill a watering can while the oven was being prepared. That was when Luke noticed a whole forest of plants by her tall window.

Bringing up the guitar and a song reminded Luke of the singing he heard back on the street and almost asked about it when Julie, now across the room, back facing him, called out to him impatiently. 

“Well? Aren’t you gonna give your speech about how Nick and I are supposed to be together blah blah blah, the Universe wills it blah blah blah, you’re being a little bitch and messing it all up blah blah blah.” 

Oh yeah. Luke was here on business. 

“But, like, why aren’t you giving him a chance? Really. The guy’s your Perfect Match,” 

“Why?” she needled, tending to her plants, and for second Luke caught a glimpse of serenity that washed over her face, hint of a real smile on her face when she cared for her hanging spider plant.

Huh, not tough all over, was she?

“I just know,” Luke insisted, ready to get into the reasons. He had been known to have a way with words (at least with other cupids, humans were unchartered territory).

“I studied up on your file before coming here-”

The watering can landed on a table with a thud. 

Julie spun around on her heel, serenity gone. 

“File? What file?”

Shit. 

Luke had just gotten used to talking to a human, and since she knew about Matches he figured she would have known how things worked back up in HQ.

But of course, the 9 other cupids were sticklers for the rules, none of them would have brought up the actual case file in the presence of a human. 

But you know what? Fuck it. 

This girl clearly needed some concrete proof. And following the rules hadn’t worked so far. 

Luke set his guitar down and snapped his fingers, the folder materializing in his hand, which captivated Julie. 

“Shouldn’t be doing this, but you’ll keep a secret, won’t you?” he winked, enjoying the awestruck expression on the girl’s face. 

Oh and he did her one better. Another snap of his fingers and the frozen pizza was in her oven, baking away. 

Julie’s focus shifted between the oven and Luke, processing what she had just seen,

“None of- none of the others told me about this.” 

“I think you know well by now I’m not like the others,”

He actually took offense to that. Imagine him being compared to the likes of Valeria or Joshua. Ugh. He had personality. 

He cracked upon the file, “Yeah. Okay look, it says here, you and Nick have known each other since elementary school. Las Almas, right? Miss Treiger’s class, 1st grade-” 

“Dude!” Julie gaped at him, scrambling to snatch the folder out of his hands.

Luke edged away from her, leaping onto the counter and sitting there, legs swinging mockingly at her.

“Company property. No touchy,” he chastised, wiggling his finger. 

The crease on her forehead was starting to become a permanent feature with the way she was drilling in a death stare.

“Well, it’s about me, right? I can’t look?!” 

She ran at him, but this time he poofed to the couch. 

He felt somewhat bad, acting like one of the other cupids who had disrespected her privacy, but it wasn’t like he was going to go on and share this with anyone else. It was just the two of them. 

And frankly, it was kind of fun ribbing on the human. Even when Julie was mad, the little scrunch she made with her nose was too adorable to take seriously. 

“I’m telling you now. So you and Nick Danforth-Evans..."

He made a show of licking his finger and flipping the page, “He scraped his knee on the playground, you gave him a butterfly band aid. Aww, how sweet. What a meet cute!” 

“Yeah, it was-” She marched over and tried again, but-

_POOF_

Luke was perched on the overhead storage structure above the kitchen, completely untouchable from the tiny human below. 

He continued to read the history, uninterrupted, “Been friends over the years but never got too close. Says here that may have something to do with a...‘Carrie Wilson’?” 

By this time, Julie was directly below him, and the mention of this other girl seemed to cool her down, trading her fury for a stonier expression, maybe somewhat sad.

“Yeah...” 

“His old girlfriend?” he insinuated. 

She exhaled, pointing to herself, “Former best friend.” 

Luke connected the dots. 

“Ouch” 

“Yeah, rather not relive any of that right now, so could you not?”

Luke quickly moved on, skimming through the rest until a juicy tidbit caught his eye.

“And oooh boy,” he whistled, _“Each other’s first kiss?”_

“It was a dare!” 

“No sparks?” 

“We were 13,” 

“... there should be sparks,”

He often heard stories about what happened when people who were meant to be with each other kiss for the first time. There should have been sparks, fireworks- explosions! It was supposed to be thrilling! 

Julie’s lips curled, “Hm. A mistake?” 

“We don’t make mistakes,” At least cupids as a whole didn’t. Him however…

“Moving on- high school, look you guys had crushes on each other at the same time-”

Now _that_ piqued Julie’s interest, “Wait. what?” 

Guess it was news to her, and Luke was convinced he had found her Achilles’ heel. Could these feelings resurface again?

“I imagine that was when he was still with Carrie Wilson,” Luke inferred from the timeline typed out on the sheet. He clicked his tongue, “Nicky, you naughty boy…” 

“Ew, don’t ever call him that,” 

“Ha!” he pointed at the timeline, “So there was something there, wasn’t there?” 

She shrugged, “Like half the year back in junior year. Doesn’t mean it’s love,” 

“I mean, you were obviously smitten with him at one point, right. it says here that you even had a dream about him, where you-”

Luke’s eyes thankfully read ahead before he could relay it outloud. His already rosy cheeks turned a deep scarlet and so did his ears. 

Julie seemed to have caught on, letting out a squeak and promptly burying her face into her hands. 

He cleared his throat awkwardly, snapping the folder closed, “I didn’t-” cough, “I didn’t realize we were… thorough with our records.” 

Maybe naughty wasn’t the right word to describe _Nick_ …

 _“Oh my god,”_ Julie cried, mortified, voice muffled by her hands,“You people never heard of a thing called ‘boundaries’?!”

“I’m sorry!” 

Luke threw the file away and it disappeared into thin air, then he poofed in front of Julie. Her embarrassment was subsiding, but she was back to glaring at Luke. 

“You… by far… are the most annoying one they sent” 

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Another snap and this time it was a sheet from Julie’s file (he didn’t want to risk looking at other… _fantasies_ she might have had. For both their sakes) 

“The Compatibility Test came back at 85%” he said, showing her the pie chart that the powers-that-be drafted up prior. Cupids swore by this test. 

Julie scoffed, shoving the paper into his chest, barely looking at it, “85% That’s not a ‘perfect match’.” 

“It’s the closest thing. And that’s perfect. And you should be lucky it’s that high,”

“So what you’re saying is that I should settle… for my true love?” 

Luke’s shoulder slumped, giving an unamused look. Maybe he should get Alex or Reggie to come down here. To explain that this was how it all worked. Because she was just… not getting it. 

And when in doubt, he referred to the chart...

“Shared history, have the same taste in shows and both work at the same record label. You prefer the actual cereal bits to Lucky Charms- judging you by the way- while he’d rather eat just the marshmallows? Now come on!”

He grabbed on her shoulders, shaking them, “if that’s not love then I don’t know what is!” 

“That doesn’t mean shit,” 

“Why are you fighting this? This is fate! On paper!” 

“Look, I just…” Julie sighed, prying his hands off her and backing away, “I just don’t believe in it,” 

“In what?” 

“Love,” 

Luke choked on his own spit. 

Hold the fuck up. 

Was this girl for real? 

_“What?”_

Julie nodded, not seeing the big deal, “I just don’t. Ok?,” 

BEEP BEEP

The pizza was ready, faster than either of them expected or maybe they were talking for that long. Julie took it as her excuse to distance herself from Luke even further. Meanwhile the Cupid was rooted to the spot, reeling from the girl’s admission. 

She brought it out of the oven and set it down on the counter to cool.

“Look, you seemed to have my life in that little manila folder, don’t know why you guys keep pushing for this if you already knew-” she broke off, stopping herself. 

Luke looked up, “Already know what?”

He summoned the file again and looked through her information. He hadn’t been aware something happened, something that had completely shattered Julie’s perception of love, if that was what the girl was hinting at. 

Luke went back to the beginning: 

Born June 25, Los Angeles General Hospital, born to Rose and Ray Molina and- 

Oh. 

He reached the blurb about her parents- her mom in particular. The red stamp spelling out ‘DECEASED’ told him everything he needed to know. 

Folder gone. Luke took tentative steps towards her, his face open and… sympathetic. 

Death was still a foreign concept to beings like him, but he had seen what it had done to humans, what it had done to the couples they had Matched. When one would day before the other, leaving them behind…

There was a reason why no one wanted to work in the Department of Grief in Mourning. Although it was good work, to help soothe the grieving after the loss of loved ones, it was harrowing to witness the pain that completely devoured a person. 

It would be hard to believe in anything like love after something like that. 

“I’m so, so sorry,” was the only thing he could offer up. 

Julie shrugged, “It’s fine,” 

“No, it’s not,” He was in the kitchen now and she held her hands up, halting him, 

“Listen...” she started. 

“Luke,” 

She sighed, “...Luke, whatever you got planned for me. Just forget it. I like my life the way it is and I just prefer to be alone.” 

“No one wants to be alone,” he uttered softly.

“Well I do. So…” her head gestured at the pizza- her dinner, “if you mind?”

Right. 

Time to go. 

“Okay,”

Luke nodded solemnly, picking his guitar up from the counter and pulling the strap on. 

Shouldering his instrument he walked- yes, walked- to the door, to be courteous after all the… invasion of privacy and dredging up this poor girl’s past. He thought he would be the one to help, to get her Matched and be on his way back to serenading would-be couples. 

But he messed this one up like how he did with the assignment before. 

Each step he took, he ran through her words in his mind, hard to get her voice out of his head in the first place, her singing had done a good job making an impression on him. 

But something she had said earlier stilled his trek to the exit. 

Hand not even on the doorknob, he was already whirling around "But if you could just-"

"I thought I told you to leave," Julie said exasperated, setting down the slice she was about to dig into. 

"Just gonna ask you one last question," he raised his hands placatingly, "Just one." 

Julie shook her head, hip cocked, arms crossed, "What could you possibly ask me that you don't already know from 'my file'?" 

He sighed, and just threw the words out brazenly- 

"Do you even know what 'love' is?"

The question threw the girl off guard. Good. Points for Luke. 

For a second Julie just gaped at him, mind processing the words, "Like... that's just a-" she faltered, "That's a loaded question-" 

"Simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’"

"It's not a simple 'yes' or 'no'! Like what do you mean?" 

"The idea of love. You know it or you don’t,” 

The brows on her face furrowed and cinched at the inner corners "Like on a basic level- yes? I know about having love for family. For friends-" 

"So yes, you know," Luke took it a step further, "And it's real. The love you have for them, yeah? Even with your mom and your past friends, people you don’t even speak to anymore?"

She didn't dignify that with an answer. 

"Exactly. So don't go around saying you don't believe in love when the love you really don't believe in is strictly on the 'romantic side,'" 

Julie was ready to argue, "Now wait a minute-" 

"I have you there, you can't say I'm wrong," 

That got him a rolling of the eyes, "Fine. I guess, it's really the romance I just.... I just don't understand." 

Now hold on… 

Luke's eyes lit up. the opportunity literally having just presented itself. There may just be a way to salvage this whole night. 

He surged forward to the kitchen, to the counter, facing opposite Julie, a budding excitement that he hadn’t felt since the last time he played his guitar, when he heard her sing. 

"Then let me help you understand,” 

Julie frowned, "What?" 

"I'm a Cupid, practically born from Aphrodite, straight up goddess of _Love_. I can help you," 

"Help me what? Understand love?" 

“Romantic Love, yes!” 

The girl laughed from the sheer absurdity of what he was offering, “Uh… this is all too weird. I’d rather live the rest of my life cupid-free thank you very much.” 

“Come on, don’t you wanna try? I’m harmless. I swear,” 

That earned a raised eyebrow. But they both knew that he was a nuisance at worst . 

“What would you do then? Sprinkle some magic and get me to somehow believe in love?” 

He shook his head, “Well, as you probably can already tell, cupid magic doesn’t seem to even work on you. So, no. And it doesn’t work that way.”

He slammed his fists against the countertop, his eagerness getting the better of him, “I’m just saying, I can provide you experiences, show you my success stories, show you how great love can be!” 

For a minute, Julie stared at him. Then she leaned forward and Luke noticed it was more of a calculating gaze directed his way. 

“What are you getting out of this?” 

“What?” 

“You’re so invested in this. What stake do you have in my love life?” 

Luke cleared his throat, opting out of telling her this would all be a means to get back into his boss’s good graces. Which yeah, that was what it started off as, but no, he was more interested in solving the mystery that was Julie Molina. 

And of course, the larger issue at hand-

Unfortunately, he had to bring out her folder again. He opened it and turned it around so it was facing her. The sight of her own photo smiling back at her rattled her initially, but then he directed her attention to the red X. 

“This, right here, that means you’re at risk to spend the rest of your life alone. I don’t want that for you. Not when you could be with someone who could make you happy,” 

Julie studied the page, frowning. And even though she had said earlier that she would rather be single for the rest of her life, it must have been something else to see proof of it on paper. 

“And you think… that person’s Nick?”

He nodded. “Absolutely,” 

She gingerly closed the folder, not bothering to look at any of the other pages. She handed it back to him. 

“What if you’re wrong? What if this doesn’t work?” 

“Then we tried. And you’ll at least know a bit more about love. Isn’t that worth trying?” 

Luke waited, drumming his fingers against the counter as Julie mentally worked through the options. But mostly her eyes drifted to the pizza. 

“If I say yes, would you let me eat?” she said finally. 

A smile broke out on his face, “Wait, you’ll do it?” 

“Yeah, I guess,” she sighed, relenting. 

Luke pumped his fist in the air, being mindful of his guitar and the pizza, “Awesome!” 

“If you tell the rest of your friends to back off!” she negotiated, “And after your little ‘lessons in love’, there’s no pressure for me to choose Nick or anyone else for that matter. Understand?” 

“I promise I won’t let any of them bother you,” He shot finger guns at her, “You’ll be my assignment alone.”

Again with the eye rolls, but it was better than death stares. 

“Can’t believe I’m even entertaining this right now. I’ll probably regret it in the morning. Can I please eat now?” 

“Right. I should go anyway,” With one last slap on the counter, he skipped to the door, “Be seein’ you tomorrow!” 

Julie raised her hand, “Wait, I never agreed to-” 

“Peace!” And with that, Luke finally remembered he was a cupid. He shot a peace sign at her, grinning widely, and in a small flash of light he made his exit. 

_And so it begins…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The HR thing came from Ephemeral_Joy. The nearly perfect match idea came from blushandbooks. 
> 
> I love those two. 
> 
> thank you for indulging me. 
> 
> enjoy.


	3. Chapter 3

Oh my god, he was, like, so stoked to be doing this. 

First of all, it wasn’t everyday Luke got to talk to a human. Well- he had never spoken to one period. It wasn’t meant to happen, but now that he had, Luke was all the more curious to interact with Julie and spend some more time on Earth. 

(He almost didn’t want to leave, there wasn’t this kind of energy down there that HQ couldn’t even begin to tap into.)

Second of all, Julie was… well, out of all the humans he had observed and paired, she was different. An interesting different. A fun, mysterious, refreshing different-

But he could do without the whole ‘I don’t believe in romance’ thing. 

Then again, that was what intrigued him most about the girl. Not her heartstopping voice or her immunity to cupid powers. (Although he didn’t mind hearing more of that voice in the near future…) 

It was startling to read up about her mom, and it did explain much of why Julie felt the way she felt. This preference to solitude was clearly a line of defense to protect herself from being left behind. It explained why her social circle was so small and consisted of mostly people she had known for most of her life, like her family and Nick. 

And that should be all the more reason to pursue something with the guy! 

_ Okay, Luke, reel it back, _ he told himself. He did promise that he wouldn’t push her towards Nick. This was purely an educational experience and whatever Julie decided to do with what she learned, that was her business. 

But he was so determined to get this girl believing in love, like not even joking. 

Maybe it was because he was a hardcore romantic, but Luke just…  _ loved _ love. 

And he just wanted that for everybody. 

Watching all the couples fall for each other was the absolute highlight of his work. 

Like, two people, the best and the worst of themselves just complimenting each other,  _ vibing _ \- this connection between them unlike anything ever before? It was always so deep and so powerful. And the euphoria he could feel radiating off of them when it happened? Warm and infectious and would send him smiling for the rest of the day. 

That hyper-empathy sure was a godsend because the closest Luke ever came to feeling that way himself, was when he was playing music… 

Immediately after returning to HQ, miraculously undetected, Luke made a beeline to the Archives and borrowed every single resource on modern day romance he could get his hands on. 

Yeah he was a Cupid. He should be this all knowing being of love and romance, but Luke wanted to cover all of his bases when it came to teaching Julie.

He really was going in blind, grabbing YA novels and chick flicks left and right before deciding to just… take everything from the last 20 years. Ignoring the judgmental stares for the mountain of shit he was collecting (and how loudly he was collecting them), Luke booked it for a breakroom he knew would be empty. 

They didn’t have houses here in Love HQ, or beds really. The breakroom was the next best thing for any semblance of privacy and quiet time. There was an unspoken rule amongst the Cupids to not use them though, being the workaholics they were. It was actually kind of frowned upon to be doing anything but work, but Luke didn’t care. 

And besides, it wasn’t like sneaking in a jam session with the guys, something he had been scolded at many times before (and had actually banned him from all break rooms for a period of time). If someone were to walk in, he could pretend to be working. 

Although  _ that _ may be suspicious to most. 

Headphones in, listening to Huey Lewis’s ‘Power of Love’, Luke was fully immersed in a copy of a Nicholas Sparks novel (which one, he didn’t fuckin’ know. They were all the same in hindsight), when Reggie found him, clearly seeking refuge from work. 

His fellow Cupid grinned at him, struggling to take a seat next to him, amidst the towering piles of books, DVDs, and soundtracks. 

“The Library of Love open for business?” he quipped, laughing at how stupid concentrated Luke must look right now, “Seriously, what’s all of this?” 

Luke slipped the headphones off, having them rest on his neck. He tapped his page with the end of his pencil, “Research.” 

“Uh huh,” Reggie watched him jot a couple notes down in his journal, his journal meant to be reserved solely for songwriting. But not like any of the songs would see the light of day anyway. 

This added to his friend’s suspicion. 

“Harrison’s really got you doing a lot of grunt work,” 

“Not Harrison,” 

“Can’t be, not when you’re practically buzzing. It’s like you  _ want _ to be knee deep in books-” 

“And movies,” Luke waved around a copy of  _ Titanic _ , ”Got them too.”

Reggie crossed his arms, “Mind telling me what’s going on?” 

“This is for an assignment,” Luke admitted, closing his book ( _ Walk to Remember _ it turned out) and already moving on to Jenny Han’s works, ”Well, an unofficial one.” 

“No such thing, buddy,” Reggie poked him in the stomach, “That’s usually code for ‘doing something I’m clearly not supposed to’.” 

Luke shot him a look, “Yeah, you’d know that, wouldn’t you?” 

He was referring to the smartphone burning a whole in the other Cupid’s pocket, the one he wasn’t supposed to have. In fact, no Cupid was allowed to have tech from down below unless for educational purposes. And from what Reggie told him, he was using this phone for anything but that. 

Instinct took over and Reggie hurriedly swept the room for any potential eavesdropping, panic blossoming in a blush rising from his neck and into his cheeks. 

“Hey,” his hand was on his friend’s wrist, steadying him, “Relax. We’re the only ones in here.”

Reggie breathed a sigh of relief, “Sorry just… just a force of habit.” 

“No worries. Not like I’d leave you to the wolves.  _ And _ I know you’d do the same for me…” 

It must have been his use of a cryptic tone that Reggie finally caught on, his brows shooting up. 

“You were on Earth, weren’t you?” he whispered-yelled at him, gesturing to the tableful of stuff. 

“He was  _ where _ ?!” 

The boys were on their feet at the sound of a new voice, only to be relieved that it was Alex, who had happened to walk through the door. 

Luke flinched, knowing he was in for it now. 

Alex crossed the room in seconds, the drummer’s hands gripping tightly on his shirt collar while Reggie leapt to close the door, keeping watch for any other cupids who could potentially walk in. 

“Hey Alex, I-” 

“Dude, you’re gonna get put down in Archives for the rest of eternity if you keep doing shit like that!”

“I know, I know-” 

“Imagine if Harrison caught you,” The blonde’s voice lowered in volume but raised in pitch, pointing heavenward,  _ “Or worse.”  _

Luke wrenched away from his friend’s grip. Sensing the start of a spiral, he helped Alex to a chair, but the cupid refused and began to pace the length of the room. 

“And there goes the band!” he muttered, “Did you know they assigned Bobby to our section after you left?” 

Luke groaned, “ _ Bobby?  _ The guy who’s always playing Michael Bolton?” 

“It’s. Been. Torture!” Reggie complained, punctuating each pause with a head bang against the door. 

“Seriously, you need to do whatever you can to be forgiven and come back to us. If I hear one more rendition of ‘If A Man Loves A Woman’, my gay heart won’t take it. I will die.” 

“We’re Cupids, boys. We don’t die,” Luke reminded him. 

“You clearly haven’t had a set with Bobby. You’d want to die by the end of it,” 

Ugh. Luke didn’t need that image of Bobby on his lyre, leading the boys in creating a  _ romantic _ atmosphere with Michael Bolton… So outdated...

“No, don’t you worry about it. I got a plan to get back out there on the ground, jamming with you guys in no time,” 

It took some time but Luke and Reggie managed to get Alex to a chair. And once he was seated, Luke finally took notice of the disheveled state the cupid was in. His normally pristine white hoodie and jeans were scuffed up with streaks of gold- the cupid blood, and the cap he wore on his head was crooked, the bill dented. 

“The hell happened to you?!” 

Alex glared into space, “A Trickster happened,” 

“The same one?” 

“Yeah,” 

Luke and Reggie shared a look. Not again. 

There needed to be some balance in the universe, Luke understood that. And since there were Cupids, the embodiment of love and togetherness- basically sunshine and rainbows, then there must be those who offset that- the literal embodiments of chaos- Tricksters. 

It wasn’t like they were out there promoting hate or whatever, but more like they lived to cause trouble and make the humans’ lives harder than they needed to be. Luke had a few run-ins with some of them (none of which were good), and from then on he would steer clear whenever he saw one. 

Alex was the same way too, yet no matter what he did, he would keep encountering a Trickster whenever he was out on solo assignments. And it seemed like this Trickster’s own assignment was to wreck Alex’s- going out of their way to keep a Match from happening. 

The last he heard about Alex and this Trickster was an incident at the museum. Alex had been busy orchestrating the mood for a couple meeting at gallery opening, and this Trickster had thought it would be funny to start screeching inside the museum, freaking everybody out and killing the mood. 

Luke would have found it funny if it hadn’t caused Alex so much distress. 

They prompted Alex to fill them in on what happened today, which was another foiled attempt to Match, but this time Alex made the mistake of trying to chase after the guy to confront him. 

Apparently he couldn’t keep up and got battered in the process. 

“Look, he’s always targeting you when you’re alone. Bring some backup. At least Reggie. Bobby too since he’s in,” Luke instructed, but inside he was ready to go down to wherever the hell those Tricksters meet and make the guy pay. 

Alex shook his head, “No, I can handle a stupid little Trickster,” He hissed, much of his superficial wounds beginning to heal, “God I hate that they’re always just so… so…” 

“Annoying?” Reggie tried. 

“Destructive?” Luke followed up. 

“...so smug. His stupid little, smug smile after he ruined everything. The guy had the audacity to wink at me before rolling away!” 

Reggie cocked his head, “Roll?” 

“He’s on one of those skateboards that humans ride. Like come on, you’re like us. Just poof everywhere,” And Alex was on his feet once more, “But don’t think we could just change the subject. What’s this about Earth?” 

For a minute, neither Luke or Reggie said anything. 

Alex pinched the bridge of his nose, pointing to Luke, “Why is it always you” then to Reggie, “And you too, who drag me into your shit?” 

“Because you’re like 90% of our impulse control,” Luke said. 

“Yeah, see what happens when you leave us alone?” Reggie made a sweeping motion over the table, “Luke’s reading!” 

“That’s- that’s not a bad thing, Reg,” Then the rest of Reggie’s words caught up to Alex, “But hold on,  _ why _ are  _ you  _ reading?” he asked Luke- 

-who decided to bust out a sheepish smile, “Can you keep a secret?” 

“Luke-” 

“Just, listen...” 

And it was Luke’s turn to do some explaining to his friends, about where he was tonight as well as the reason he was voluntarily  _ reading _ . By the time he finished, he was met with a pair of slack jawed expressions. 

“ _ #9102020?! _ Really, Luke?” 

Oh. Apparently, Julie had racked up quite the reputation, given how shocked Reggie was. And how stressed Alex was. 

“Her name is Julie, and she needs help,” 

“Yeah, serious institutional help because… she can’t- she couldn’t possibly see you and hear you!” 

“She can. And she’s Immune to whatever cupid magic that makes us invisible- and did I tell you that I can’t get a reading from her?” 

Reggie leaned forward, pure wonder in his eyes, “What is she?” 

“A human. And a lonely one. And shouldn’t it be up to us to get her to her True Love?” 

“But you’re supposed to be up here, at your desk. Not on the field,” Alex reminded him. 

Luke knew that, and he knew that going to see Julie was going to require some sort of sneaking around. But he was sure he got it handled, planning to space out his visits so it wasn’t obvious, not lingering on Earth for a noticeable amount of time. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he assured. 

“Luke,” Alex warned. 

“I’ll be careful,” 

Luke didn’t want to have this conversation right now, and he was already migrating to the table before Alex could try to talk him out of this. He patted the stack of DVDs, switching the subject. 

“Now, how many of these Rom-Coms can I knock out before tomorrow?” 

“Tomorrow, already?” whistled the blonde. 

“Yeah. Best to start early,” 

“Um, Luke. Aren’t you forgetting? There’s only so many hours on a regular Earth day? You’ve got, like, enough movies here to last a whole human lifetime.” Reggie pointed out, pulling out his phone and marking the time. 

“But she needs to see these. These,” he swiped the case for  _ Dirty Dancing _ , holding it up “are the building blocks of manifesting the kind of kick-ass romance you’d always dream of!”

And since Luke couldn’t read Julie, seeing how she would react to some of these would give him a better idea of what he was working with. Movie taste could say a lot about a person. 

If he could pinpoint her favorites among these, then he would know what kind of romantic fantasies she could be secretly harboring. And maybe help make her believe that such fantasies were in the cards for her. 

“Need to vet them before I leave some of them with her”

The other two grimaced, “What? Like homework?” 

“I don’t wanna overwhelm her, guys,” 

Giving her movie recommendations would allow for Julie to go about them at her own pace, and he couldn’t be there to watch a bunch of these with her- the time frame too small.

But then again, it would be an excuse for her to put them off. Luke was trying really hard to ignore the other cupid’s comments on her file, the words ‘uncooperative’ occupying his mind, but he wouldn’t put it past Julie to say she watched them when she really didn’t.

He should be more firm about this, now that he thought about it. 

“Oh,  _ Luke, Luke, Luke-y, Luke.... _ ” Reggie tutted, an idea sparking, Luke recognized, “I think there’s a much better way to go about this...” 

* * *

Reggie was a genius. 

A total genius. If Luke could name a Cupid more romantic than him it would be Reggie. Even Alex, who normally had a sarcastic remark ready every time Reggie opened his mouth, applauded the idea. 

The boys helped him figure out the specifics of the plan, helped him scour the database for the perfect place for it. And, since time flew by differently in HQ, before he knew it, Reggie was telling him it was already time for him to go. 

Luke poofed into Julie’s apartment, catching the girl off guard and she would have fallen off her barstool if Luke hadn’t been nearby to catch her. 

“Hey!” he chirped, setting her upright. 

Hair tied into a messy bun and sporting a baggy mustard-colored sweater, Julie was clutching at the spot on her chest where her heart would be, “Jesus, you scared me!” 

“Sorry,”

Julie took some deep breaths, probably reigning in her frustration. She adjusted the glasses resting on her face, having been knocked crooked upon Luke’s sudden arrival. 

“Normal people don’t do that. And you… Cupids definitely shouldn’t do it either. What are you doing here?” 

Luke flopped onto her couch, sending her pillows tumbling to the floor, making himself comfortable, “It’s tomorrow o’clock isn’t it?” 

“Oh my bad, you’re punctual. I’m just rude and forgot,” 

Wow, her sarcasm could rival Alex’s. But it really was his fault that he didn’t specify the time, Julie had probably been spending the day super vigilant, anticipating him popping up from around the corner. Whoops. 

He took her in now, dressed in her pajamas (wait, were those… dinosaur slippers?)- she seemed ready to go to bed. 

Yeah, not on his watch. 

“Get dressed,” he all but instructed. 

And of course it was met with resistance,“Why?” 

“Time for your first lesson,” 

“Where are we going?” 

Finger raised to his lips, he smiled, “It’s a surprise,” 

“Cuz that’s something every girl wants to hear from people who break into their apartments…” she muttered but shuffled off to her bedroom anyway. 

She emerged 10 minutes later in jeans and a different sweater- oh, which reminded Luke. 

“Do you have a shirt I can borrow?” 

“Looking for something with,” she eyed his all white outfit, “sleeves?” 

He shrugged, “Anything really. It’s just where we’re going, we’re most likely to run into my coworkers. Can’t have them recognizing me.” 

“Ah,” she was back in her room, her voice still carrying from the opened door, “I take it that you’re not supposed to be doing this. Helping me.” 

“Yeah no,” He left the couch and leaned against the wall adjacent to the hallway leading to her room, “This is off the record.” 

“Then what’s stopping them from sending another one of you?” 

“Trust me. No one’s lining up to be your Cupid right now,” 

Julie appeared, a pleased smile firmly set on her lips and wielding a large black T-shirt, “Nice.”

“Lucky for you,” he accepted the offered article, “I don’t scare easily.” 

“Wow. Lucky-” 

Luke stripped off his white shirt, exposing his bare chest. 

“-me.” she finished lamely. 

Julie gulped, looking like a deer in headlights. Quirking an eyebrow at her sudden tongue-tied blunder, Luke slipped her shirt on his body… slowly, at which Julie averted her eyes and excused herself to grab her shoes. 

Again, he was having fun teasing the human. 

Once dressed (he was thrilled to see it was a  _ Nirvana _ tee) Luke tasked Julie to drive the two of them out of the city, giving her the instructions he got from HQ, dodging Julie’s questions until they arrived at their destination 20 minutes later. 

“A drive in?” Julie remarked, pulling into the lot and passing the fluorescent neon signs that said so. 

“A movie marathon!” 

He pointed to the showings and indeed there were three movies lined up for the night- all ‘90s Rom-Coms. 

“I did mention Netflix yesterday, right? You know I have that. At home,” 

“No, you need the whole experience,” Luke insisted, squirming in his seat, absolutely jazzed to be here, “If I’m gonna be teaching you about romance then I gotta take you back to the start,” 

There was already a parade of cars entering the spacious lot in front of the screen. Julie had to fight tooth and nail to snag a spot. And it was a good one too, right smack dab in the middle. 

“Ah yes, a car park,” she switched off the engine, “The birthplace of romance. And my friend Flynn. Or so she tells me.” 

Um. Ok?

Luke… wasn’t sure how... to respond to that, so he was fiddling with her radio for the set station, “Look, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that movie dates are, like, always the perfect first dates-” 

Julie faced him, a slight edge in her voice, “Is that what this is? A date?” 

His fingers slipped on the knob, static blasting out the speakers, wreaking havoc on his ears. 

“Oh,” he shook his head vigorously, hands up in surrender, “No, no, no-”

“Wow, you could say ‘no’ a couple more times-” 

Luke winced. He didn’t- he didn’t think- 

Oh Aphrodite. 

That was certainly what it looked like, didn’t it? 

With the two of them in a car park full of couples preparing to watch (or not watch, Luke knew what couples would get up to in their cars) these rom-coms… and oh fuck, with him flashing his abs at her back at her place (he was just messing with her! He would do that kind of stuff with Alex and Reggie!)- 

Julie was, yes, very pretty and really cool, but he wouldn’t. Although she wasn’t his assignment in an official capacity, Luke was supposed to be professional. He was meant to ease her into the idea of romance, to get her to trust him enough before he could give her more out-there pointers. 

And one way to  _ not  _ do that was make her think he was pulling the moves on her. 

“I’m not trying to hit on you, I swear,” he explained so as to not scare her away, “I’m just your love teacher. That’s all.”

It worked somewhat, she relaxed slightly, most likely due to his piss-poor phrasing. 

“Please tell me you’re a better singer than speaker,” 

He sighed, feeling safe enough to smile again, “I am. I’m just trying to say that it’s great when starting out. Easing you into this whole romance thing. Like, no pressure when on a movie date, right?” 

Yeah, movie dates would get a bad rep for being awkward. Not a lot of opportunity for conversation, too dark to see the other person clearly if not for the projector, the anxiety of whether or not to make a move, the slightest brushing of hands or nudging of thighs- 

But that was the beauty of it. The absolute rite of passage one must take before embarking on more elaborate and emotionally taxing dates. 

Now, he had read up on Julie’s file and she had been on quite a few dates, but it wouldn’t hurt to bring it back to the basics, to have her surrounded by that kind of nervous energy, the kind mixed with sweaty hands and soda-stained lips, the unbridled excitement a teenager would feel while on the cusp of their first venture into love. 

He hoped to recapture that magic here tonight. 

Julie seemed to agree with his reasoning, and relaxed more now that it was clear that Luke was doing this purely for educational purposes. She took it upon herself to adjust the radio so they could hear the previews playing on the screen. 

“What movies are we seeing again, Lover Boy?” 

“ _ 10 Things, Pretty Woman,  _ and _ Clueless, _ ”

Clapping her hands together, she let out an enthusiastic, “Yes!” 

“Y-You like them?”

She seemed offended by his incredulous tone, “Of course. I’m not a downright cynic. I have taste.” 

Oh thank gods. They could have had a real problem if she didn’t like any of these classics. He and the boys were raised on this shit. They practically screened these films to Cupids fresh from conception. 

Humans had Barney and Dora, Luke had Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant (but they were not showing  _ Knotting Hill  _ tonight- Dammit!)

“Alright, don’t enjoy them too much, you could learn a thing or two from the movies,” he kicked back in his seat as the first of the movies began to play on the big screen. 

“Can I learn with popcorn?” she asked, “I’m starving…” 

After Luke poofed to the snack bar and copped two bags of popcorn, they began her lesson. 

Luke couldn’t remember the last time he sat down and watched a movie, much less it happening in a drive in. He had been to a couple in the past, even to this particular location, but it was always for work and he could never stay for too long. 

The first movie went on swimmingly, and by the time Julia Roberts was strutting down the street in her fancy new digs on screen, Luke could safely say that none of his colleagues were showing up tonight to do their job, allowing himself to unwind. 

Not fully though, because he kept sneaking looks over to Julie, gauging her reaction to the movie every now and then. It was great to see that she was actually enjoying herself, too enraptured by what was happening on the screen to notice his creepy staring. 

She sighed wistfully at all the right parts, laughed during the jokes, and joined in the audience cheering during the final kiss on the terrace- which was fan ‘freakin’ tastic. 

And it only puzzled Luke even more. 

How could a person root for romance but didn’t want that for themselves? 

During the intermission between  _ Pretty Woman _ and  _ Clueless _ , they chilled in the car and talked about the movie, and Luke was finally hitting his stride when talking to her now, especially when it was the most normal conversation the two of them had ever shared. It was nice.

There were the occasional hoots and hollers from the many teenage couples, but nothing too obscene. Luke was hopeful that this night would turn out well, that Julie was slowly warming up to him, and that she wouldn’t have regret letting him bring her here. 

Pretty soon the next movie started, and although less on the ‘Rom’ side in this rom-com,  _ Clueless _ was one of Luke’s favorites. Mostly because he was able to quote the entire movie off the top of his head. 

He caught himself reciting Paul Rudd’s lines verbatim, and this time Julie was the one to look over at him, but before he could apologize- 

_ “What’s the point? Everywhere you go there’s valet,” _ she followed up with Cher’s line, not missing a beat. 

And then so it went, the rest of  _ Clueless _ they were running the lines back and forth, almost challenging, to see who would slip and miss a word or two, and Luke was stunned to think that he may have just met his match. 

They got to the one scene where Cher was about to realize her feelings for Josh, Julie was in mid-monologue when loud bickering from the car next to them interrupted her. 

She did a quick once over and sank into her seat, trying not to mind the noise and focus on what was happening on screen, but Luke full on turned and saw an older couple arguing intensely with wild hand gestures and everything. 

Luke frowned, and before he could stop himself he was snapping his fingers, switching the radio station in the other car. Gradually, the bitter words ceased to be, replaced with music softly playing in the car (it may or may not have been  _ their _ song). His ears picked up on apologies, some sweet sentiments shared, and oh-

Yep, they were now making out.

Safe to say they were no longer fighting. _ You’re welcome everyone.  _

“Couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Julie said, witnessing what just happened. 

“They shouldn’t be talking during the movie,” _Or yelling..._

Now it was the second time tonight that Julie regarded him somewhat frostily, “Hey if they wanna fight then that’s their business.” 

“And interrupt Cher’s big moment at the fountain?” he waved off her concern, trying to direct her attention back to the screen, “Shh, you need to see this, this is very important-” 

But Julie wasn’t done, “You know life isn’t at all like the movies?” 

“It could be,” 

“Nah. Life’s not as predictable,” her eyes flickered to the now made-up couple, “And it  _ never _ goes the way we want it.” 

Woah. Ok. 

Julie wasn’t a fan of his powers. She didn’t like how he used them just now, and Luke didn’t get it. He did a good thing, right? He stopped the fighting, and the last time he checked, fighting was bad. He saved the evening for them. 

Did she have a problem with him meddling? But that was what he did. It was basically ingrained in his being, in all of the Cupids really- 

Like the ones who had paid her a visit before. Who had tried to force her into doing something she clearly did not want, to get her to follow the plan. 

Fuck.

It must have been so jarring for her to see him influence humans with just a snap of his fingers, how effortlessly he could do it, and if Julie hadn’t been the only exception, she would have easily been like that couple, susceptible to his meddling. 

Before he had prided himself that he was nothing like his soulless coworkers, but tonight just proved that he wasn’t at all that different. 

Luke had no response, the worst time to be terrible with coming up with words, and so Julie took it as ignorant silence and stuck to her side of the car. 

She was quiet for the rest of the movie. 

* * *

Luke honestly expected Julie to call it a night after the second movie, but instead, she left the car to go and stretch her legs. And not one to want to leave things unsaid, he wasted no time in following her. 

She wound up at the snack bar. He was straggling behind but he could hear her order a milkshake. 

Awkwardly, he rested against the side of the wooden structure that had seen better days while she waited at the counter. 

“I didn’t mean to, you know,” he cleared his throat, “Be like them.” 

Julie pulled her phone out, tucking it between her ear and shoulder as she fished out her wallet, “You’re all used to getting your way, aren’t you?” she pretended to speak into the device.

“Some of us, yeah,” he revealed, “But it’s not like I was controlling their minds. I just give a little push.” 

For some reason, that hint of disappointment in her gaze gutted him. He had only known this girl for a little over 24 hours and already he couldn’t stand to make her so upset. 

“Have you tried letting things happen naturally? Or is that not your style?” 

“Weird to say naturally when, technically, we Cupids are forces of nature,” 

“Look, it’s just-” she stopped to pay for the milkshake, now taking the frozen treat in her hand, “It’s just strange. I know that’s what you guys do, but it’s wrong. At least, it feels like it for me,”

“Even though we’re trying to make people happy? I want to make people happy. And I could. That’s wrong to you?”

It sounded like he was dismissing her feelings. But no, he just… wanted to hear exactly what she thought about it. No minced words, just spell it out for his dumb Cupid ass to understand. 

There was a lot he had yet to understand about how humans operate. He thought he knew… but everything with Julie made him question all that he had ever learned. 

“Let me put it like this,” her patience wearing a bit thin, “Do you want people having a say with who you could be with?” 

“No,” 

“Exactly,” she took a sip of her milkshake, “I want to be happy. But on my own terms.” 

Luke processed what she said, and it was… admirable. What she was striving for. It made sense to him now. Made sense why she fought back against the Cupids that had come before him. 

She wanted a say in how she wanted to spend the rest of her life. 

Whether that would be Nick, someone else, or no one entirely. 

For all the time Luke had known Julie, it was only now that he saw her resistance to Cupid powers as some sort of blessing. She had control. She exercised that control. Cupids got mad, and they shouldn’t be. 

Having any sort of freedom was something that Luke craved, to be free to go wherever, to play the music he wanted to play. 

He might just be jealous of Julie at the moment. The girl who did not believe in romance was living more of a fulfilled life than any of them could ever imagine. 

They began the slow walk back to the car, Luke maintaining a respectable distance behind her, “You could go home if you want-” 

“Oh no. I’m staying for  _ 10 Things I Hate About You _ . It’s my all-time favorite. Might as well see it since I’m here,”

Luke nodded but didn’t enter her car along with her, he wasn’t sure if she would appreciate his company right now. 

He made rounds on the lot while the last movie played, thinking more about what Julie said. And the more he thought about it, the more he wondered why he didn’t just cut his losses and poof back to HQ. It would for sure save him and Julie a lot of trouble. 

Leaving Julie behind didn’t seem like an option though. Not one he would have liked to choose anyway. He was already hooked, this girl had totally changed the game, and Luke wanted to still play. 

But it was up for Julie to decide if they should continue. 

No matter where he was on the grounds, he kept his eye on Julie while she watched the movie. He saw her bobbing her head to Letters to Cleo, mouthing the dialogue like she had done earlier, and, of course, leaning forward in her seat every time Heath Ledger was on screen.

Now, Luke could only put together what kind of guy this Nick Danforth-Evans was, but it wouldn’t be inaccurate to assume that he was nothing like Patrick Verona, the guy that Julie was obviously oggling. This devil-may-care attitude, roguishly handsome tough guy with a dose of softness was more up her alley, it seemed. 

And she deserved to choose someone that aligned with her tastes. And she could choose. Lucky. 

Damn, it was like the concept of choice and free will was foreign to him until now. Or at least set in a different light. 

It was so intriguing. 

Just like Julie. 

He stayed away from her until the credits rolled and cars began to head out. She rolled her drivers window down as he approached. 

“Can I see that you get home safe? Then I’ll get off your back,” 

If this was some slick way to try and spend more time with her, Julie didn’t comment. Or refused. 

Expressionless, she nodded and unlocked the door so he could pile in. 

It was quiet on the way back , only the sound of the radio playing in the background but it set so low that Luke strained to hear it. Oh well, it made it better to conjure up another round of apologies before he had to go back to HQ. 

Though it wasn’t until Julie was nearing her place that she threw him a curveball- 

“I had a good time tonight,” 

Luke’s neck could have snapped at how fast he turned his head at her. 

“W-What? Really?” he asked incredulously. 

Did-did they not experience the same night?

Her grip on her steering wheel slid along the curve. She blew out a weary sigh, the crease on her forehead coming in and out of view until it disappeared. 

“Things have been...shit at work, and it’s been a while since I was able to go out and do something else for a change. For what it’s worth, I kinda needed this,” she confessed, “So thanks.” 

“Oh,” was his dumb reply, “Glad that it helped. In some way.” 

The silence resumed until they arrived at her place. 

Turning into the garage and killing the engine, Julie unclipped her seatbelt and moved so she fully faced Luke, folding her legs underneath her on the seat. 

“You said ‘happy’ earlier,” she recalled, her brown eyes boring into his hazel, “Not just tonight. But yesterday too.” 

“Yeah,” 

“You know...when the others were trying to set me up with Nick, I’d ask them why, like I did with you yesterday. Why were they so invested in the success of my love life? They gave me all these reasons, most of them saying it was meant to be, that they wanted me to follow the plan...” 

She paused. 

“...Not once did any of them say it’s ‘to make me happy’.”

Those bastards. 

They never… they never factored in Julie’s happiness? How could they not have thought about that? 

Soulless. He was right to say that about his coworkers. It was all about the work to them. Matching people and facilitating love was a job, something to clock in and clock out for. Love to them was recorded for paperwork, not for poems or songs. It had always irked him that it was treated that way. 

Good to know that there was something setting him apart from the rest after all. 

“That’s why I do this,” Luke went on, “I like seeing how my gifts, like my music, make people feel. If I could make a difference in their day, in their lives, if I could just put a smile on their face,” he shrugged, “that’s when I feel like I’ve done my job.”

He was nearly out of breath as he concluded his little speech. And he meant every word of it. He needed to know that he cared not because he was supposed to. But he actually did care whatever happened to her. 

Their staredown went on for a couple minutes more before Julie asked, “When’s the next lesson?” 

The surprise never ceased, _“You still wanna do this?”_

“Yeah,” 

“Uh,” Luke recovered, racking his brain to answer her question he had not been prepared for, “Not sure. I already took a gamble leaving two days in a row. It would have to be a while before I could visit you again,” 

“Noted,” She leaned forward, to whisper: “Hey, a little tip for next time?” 

“Yeah?” 

“You’ve ever heard of this thing called ‘knocking’?” 

That got a chuckle out of Luke, “Vaguely.” 

“It’s a human custom,” she enunciated slowly, with a flourish of her hands. 

“For gods sake, I’m aware, Julie,”

"Good," She punched him in the shoulder, “If I can get one of you Cupids to learn boundaries, then that’s when I feel like I’ve done  _ my _ job.”

Now it wouldn’t be so crazy to think that it might just be Julie’s job. That she could be sent by some higher power to keep Cupids like him in line. She had already done it with the 9 before him, definitely knocked them down a peg or two. 

“I’ll, uh, see ya around?” 

The right corner of her mouth twitched and she waved, “Bye, Lover Boy.”

He took it as his cue to poof out of her car, off Earth, and into HQ. 

Appearing in the breakroom, where his boys were waiting for him, Luke couldn’t shake the feeling that during a lesson meant for Julie,  _ he _ had walked away learning something. 

They all asked the questions- how did it go? Did any Cupids catch you? Did it work? 

But it was one question that made him freeze. 

Reggie’s eyes drifted from his face and onto his chest. 

“What are you wearing?”

In all the confusion, Luke had totally forgot- 

He was still wearing Julie’s shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long one. 
> 
> Not sure if you noticed, the whole squad decided to drop updates on the same day. 
> 
> Also the movies had some sort of relevance to the plot.


	4. Chapter 4

Julie had the greatest job in the whole world. 

That was the conclusion Luke arrived at when he visited her at work a month later. 

Time worked differently in HQ than on Earth, this Luke already knew. It didn’t seem like it had been a month since he last paid Julie a visit, only felt like a couple days for him- 

A couple days of working diligently (well not too diligently- he did have his own reputation to keep). 

Ever since the drive-in, Luke had returned with a new shirt and a new perspective.

(He had been quick to relieve himself of the _Nirvana_ tee however, in case a coworker, who was not as chill as Alex or Reggie, would walk in and zero in on the one piece of darkness in the otherwise immaculate, white space.) 

But what Julie said, about doing things on her own terms, stuck with him. 

It stuck with him when was at his stupid desk job, performing mind-numbing acts of stamping and paperclipping shit together, filing paperwork for the Cupids who took people with wants and full-fledged lives and reduced them to to-do lists and case numbers, all while he would rather be jamming out on his guitar and connecting with the people. 

But he had found himself thinking about Case #90102020, a.k.a Julie, a lot. 

He had been racking his brain for what he could teach Julie for their next lesson, but after how _well_ the last one turned out, Luke was more apprehensive this time around. Alex and Reggie had thrown their ideas into the ring, but nothing was clicking for him. 

It was all this research and _thinking_ process that was throwing him off his game. He would never do either. He was the ‘do first, face the consequences’ later kind of guy. That was just how he operated and it went fine- 

-until he got punished for it of course. 

So it was one day when Luke just… just about had it thumbing through papers to only the sounds of dozens of others doing the same thing. And when the opportunity to sneak away and see Julie presented itself, he jumped at the chance. Nothing prepared. Except for the bundle that was her shirt. 

He couldn’t find her at her apartment. After knocking (as part of human custom), there was no answer and Luke realized from the time of day that she must still be at her work. 

A minute later, he poofed over to Destiny Records. 

Woah. He knew that Julie worked at a record label, but it was just now hitting him how _awesome_ that was. 

It was like stepping into a monument to music. His eyes grew with each framed gold record he passed, utterly speechless when he kept hearing legends’ names being so casually tossed around in conversation

(“We’ll workshop that with Paul McCartney next week” was a phrase he would never associate with some corporate guy sitting idly in his office chair, playing Among Us. But hey- that must be normal here? He was not one to judge. Look at where _he_ worked for crying out loud.)

After snooping through the receptionist's computer and following the right people, Luke ended up in some sort of studio space. 

Peering from the glass door, he saw Julie at a grand piano, talking to a group of very important looking people. She kept pointing to something on her stand- a notebook. A lady in a pantsuit motioned for Julie, the universal sign of ‘Let’s run it back again’. 

Luke pushed the door open just a tad, in time to hear Julie play something on piano. 

The wonders of Julie Molina never ceased. 

Her fingers were flying on the keys, producing tight trills and thundering bass, all while she sang. Silently slipping into the room, ducking behind a tall speaker, he listened to that angelic voice once more, the impact hitting him more when he picked up on the words- the beautiful, well-crafted lyrics describing love and loss, and love again. 

Before Luke could get carried away with the flow of the song, the girl standing next to pantsuit lady cut her off. Now the next part, he wasn’t able to make out from his position, but there was a lot of head shaking, disappointed sighs, which… did not add up? 

Did they not like it? How could they not? Did they not hear the same fuckin’ thing?

What made it worse was how Julie reacted throughout all of this. She was nodding along with what they were saying, but that fire in her eyes while she was performing was snuffed out. That smile on her face was just courtesy. 

He didn’t need to use hyper-empathy to figure out her soul was leaving her body. 

A few minutes of back and forths later, the important-looking people, all led by the girl, made their exit, leaving Julie all alone at the piano, gathering up the sheet music and the notebook. 

“You can come out now,” she sighed, sparing a glance in his direction. 

Yikes. He must not have been as discrete as he thought. 

Luke, on any other occasion, would have had the decency to act sorta sheepish about getting caught, but instead he popped out from his hiding place and bounded over to the piano. 

“You’re a songwriter?!” he asked, excitedly sneaking peeks at the music. 

Of course she was! With her talent, how could she not? And how could she not work in a place like this?

Julie let out a soft chuckle, “It’s a sweet gig. Pays well,” she stuck her thumb in the direction of the doors, “Meeting mega-famous artists is _always_ a plus.” 

Luke had no idea who it had been that was in here just now, and, frankly, he didn’t want to know. Not if they were so quick to dismiss Julie’s talent. 

The month apart far behind him, Luke joined her on the bench, “No dude, that’s, like, the sweetest gig! Getting paid to do music?” 

“Never thought Cupids cared for money as much,” 

“Oh screw money. Just saying that your passion is your profession. Not everyone has that,” 

He wished he could spend the whole day working on music. Matching people was great and all, but getting to put out songs? Now _that_ was the dream. 

There might have been something wistful about the way he said it that Julie quickly backtracking on her earlier bitterness. 

“You’re right. You are absolutely right. I’m pretty lucky. It’s just...” 

“Bad days?” he figured and she nodded, “Last time you said that. Was it-?” he pointed to the door. 

“Not the same artist,” she cupped her mouth for a stage-whisper. “Believe it or not, the LA music scene is filled with a lot of assholes.”

Luke fake-gasped, “No. Really?” 

A genuine smile played along her lips, and Luke considered that a good sign. 

“Well,” he continued, pinching the sheet music pile, reading it over once more… 

“I have no idea what the hell they’re talking about. I think what you have is really good. And that’s coming from someone who’s been around the block and has heard a lot of music.” 

“How old are you even?” she asked, resting her elbow on the piano, propping up her face. 

“Not sure. Don’t really experience time like you humans do. But I’m pretty young. Compared to other Cupids,” 

“Been around the block, huh? But you have yet to exploit your powers to sneak a peek in a music studio?” 

“Is my fanboy showing?” 

(That could totally go for him fawning over her voice and writing skills too… ) 

Julie dismounted the bench and pulled out a pair of wireless earbuds from her pocket, “Come on.” 

“What?” 

“I’ll give you a tour,” she smiled, putting the earbuds on. 

Luke couldn’t leave the bench and follow her any faster. Holding open the door, Julie’s line of sight dropped, “You know _Nirvana_ recorded here, right?” 

Oh yeah, he had swapped out shirts before showing up on Earth, again for stealth reasons, “I’ll give it back after we’re done, if you want?” 

“Nah. Keep it,” she poked his chest, “Definitely suits you.”

“For real?” She nodded and Luke couldn’t believe this girl’s generosity, a stark contrast to the frosty welcome he received the first time. He really shouldn’t accept the shirt, it was hers and it would be hard to hide in HQ. 

But he always wanted to own something that was so, like what Julie said, his vibe. The guitar and journal were his only treasured possessions. 

“Thanks,” 

“No problem,” 

She was down the hall when her words from earlier finally registered and he was sprinting behind her, “Wait. Recorded here _here?!”_

* * *

Safe from being perceived as crazy, Julie, with earbuds on, was free to converse with Luke and show him around the studios. 

Luke felt like a kid on a school field trip (he assumed, since he never was a kid or have gone to school), but that childlike wonder was present when he ogled at every piece of rock memorabilia displayed in the corridors.

She gave him the rundown on the different rooms, pausing to greet a coworker, and telling by the warm smiles sent her way, Julie must be a delight to work with. Luke’s coworkers wouldn’t even so much look at him when he walked past, even go out of their way to avoid him at HQ…

At one point during the tour, Julie got them into an actual recording studio. 

They weren’t able to stay for long because it was booked for a slot coming up soon, but Luke internalized that awestruck sensation he felt when he saw the mic in the booth. For a moment, he imagined himself in there, laying down vocals for an album he and the boys would have slaved over. 

They concluded the tour at the front, near the reception desk- 

Right when a guy, who had just entered from the opposite wing of the building, waved down Julie from across the room, “Hey, Molina!” 

She returned the wave and met him in the middle, “Nick, hi!” 

_Nick!_

“Well, well, well” Luke clapped and rubbed his hands together, buzzing between Julie and Nick, but mostly staring at Nick, “So we finally meet!” 

“Shut up,” Julie warned. 

Nick regarded her, confused, “Huh?” 

She gasped, pointing at her earbuds, “Sorry, I was talking to, er, my... dad?” 

“Oh?” Then the blonde raised his voice towards her, “Hey Mr. Molina!”

“Hey Nickypoo,” Luke couldn’t resist replying, poking at him curiously. 

_“Ah!”_ Julie practically ripped the earbuds out, “He went through a tunnel!“

 _Smooth_ , Luke mouthed at her. Seriously? Where was that snarky, collected girl he had spent the last month thinking about? 

She wanted to glare at him, he could see that, but she focused on Nick, trying to ignore the Cupid’s presence, “So, what have you been up to today?” 

“About to lend Flynn a hand with that new Templeton song,” 

“That’s exciting,” 

“Yeah. Working with her is always a good time,” he hummed, “At least after she’s had her coffee...” 

Julie couldn’t suppress a scoff, “More like 7 coffees. That girl sure likes caffeine.” 

“I can never. I’ll just be wired all the time and won’t sleep,” 

“Well, we can’t have that,” 

“No we cannot. Andi would be on my ass if I wasn’t keeping up with the best of the best,” he casually bumped her with his elbow. 

“Right,” she drew out, sticking her hands in her pockets- the classic ‘I don’t know what else to say’ pose. 

Huh. 

Luke took the lull in the conversation as an opportunity to look at this ‘Nick’ a little more closely. 

Good smile. Hair nicely trimmed. Kind eyes.

Yeah no. Definitely not Heath Ledger. But even in his mid twenties, Nick had this sort of boy next door thing going on, which could be read as adorable and non-threatening. A lot of people were into that nowadays. 

(Look at Timothee Chalamet for crying out loud). 

From a quick scan with his hyper-empathy, this guy was so smitten with Julie that it overwhelmed Luke's senses. 

There was a fondness he had for her, probably ever since when they were kids. Luke had read the file and saw the results, there were loads they had in common and had plenty of fun memories between the two of them- it was a recipe for off the charts attraction. 

And yet…

There was nothing of the sort happening between Julie and Nick. 

It didn’t make sense. 85%. There should be a vibe… 

But Luke wasn’t getting it, not from Nick. 

He had always thought whoever the universe had picked out for Julie would be able to be on that same energy as her. Like, when they were together they would be a flow, like a dance that they could seamlessly fall into, trading witty comments, making each other laugh, just ‘oozing’ sweetness, as Reggie would put it. 

But the first thing the guy did when he saw the girl was talk about work. 

_Work! Seriously?_

When someone talks to the love of their life, work should be the last thing on their mind! 

Even his compliment fell flat. Like Julie wasn’t blushing or smiling from it. Like he had said it so many times that it didn’t ring true for her anymore. 

Luke was experiencing a serious case of secondhand embarrassment watching these two talk. 

_Oh Aphrodite, how more painful can this get?_

And it did.

Nick summoned a wrapped treat from his pocket, “Uh...Fig Newton?” he offered- a last ditch effort to keep this conversation rolling. 

_“Fig Newton?”_ The choice of snack said it all and Luke was just… not having it, “Might wanna ask him how old _he_ is, Julie.” 

She was equally repulsed by the food but reduced her queasy expression into a tense smile, “Uh, no thanks. I’m actually just about head out to lunch so-” 

Nick side-stepped, stalling her, “Oh, where to?”

“Uh, well…” she bit her lip, her foot making little frustrated stomps as she tried to think of something, but really just started repeating, “Where? Where… exactly-?” 

Alright, Luke decided, Julie could not lie to save her life. 

He had to do something. This was pure agony. 

Mentally running through Julie’s file again, Luke swooped in for a rescue.

Recalling an incident from her past, he suggested: “Calico Cat Cafe” 

“Calico Cat Cafe!” she echoed. 

Nick’s face fell, his desire to join her for lunch now gone. Thankfully, Luke’s memory worked in their favor- 

Turned out ol’ Nicky was allergic to cats… 

“Wow,” was all the guy could say, and Luke almost felt bad, if it weren’t for the look of relief on Julie’s face. 

“Yeah. Meeting a friend there actually, so…” 

“I won’t keep you. See ya later? For that new project?” 

“Sure,” 

Then Julie made her hasty exit, leaving the building before wearing her earbuds again. She and Luke were hustling it down the steps, as if Nick was gonna all of the sudden develop dander immunity and follow her. 

“Thank you!” 

“No problem. Looked like you needed the out,” Luke kept checking behind him, “Do you really break for lunch?” 

“Yeah. But I am _not_ going to a cat cafe,” 

The coast was clear, and amidst all the adrenaline for having pulled one over on Nick, Luke took hold of Julie’s hand, not caring how it might have looked to people, and tugged her down the street.

“I know a place. Come on.” 

* * *

Luke had taken her to the finest food establishment ever to have come out of a dingy Los Angeles alley.

This _Sam ‘N Ella’s_ street food cart had been in the same spot ever since Luke first started his assignments in the ‘90s. Swiping one of these hot dogs had been a favorite past time between him and the boys.

“Did you have anything planned for me?” Julie asked between bites of her street dog, “Another lesson?” 

Luke handed her a napkin to wipe the dribble of mustard on the corner of her lips while they walked down Sunset Boulevard, “Not really. Maybe pick your brain for your thoughts on the movies.” 

She took it before anyone could see the literal floating napkin, “Right. I was supposed to have learned something.” 

“Now, I know you got lost in Heath Ledger’s eyes and sexy accent-” And there was that eye roll he was waiting for, “- but what did you get from it?” 

“Apart from the soundtracks, which totally slaps?” She thought about it, finishing off the last of her hot dog, “Love comes from the unlikely of places, I guess.”

“Exactly!”

The movies were all different, but that was the one running theme throughout _Pretty Woman_ , _Clueless_ , and _10 Things I Hate About You_.

None of the leads thought they would end up with whoever they ended up with, but that was what made the whole romance thing fun.

Like maybe keep your heart open and you wouldn’t know who would be waiting for you to… 

“Sometimes it happens when you least expect it,” he recapped, “So I have a good feeling that it’s bound to happen soon. Just might be around the corner.” 

And after meeting Nick, Luke, now more than ever, was rooting for Julie to choose.

Like literally anybody else. 

“Don’t hold your breath,” Julie went to toss hers and Luke’s trash away in a nearby trashcan when she froze in the middle of the sidewalk. 

Luke didn’t have time to reach out and ask what was up because all of the sudden, his shirt was balled up in Julie’s fists and he was whisked off to the alleyway next to them. 

His back hit the brick and Julie pressed herself onto him, their heaving torsos bumping into each others’. 

Wow, she was so close, close enough that he caught a whiff of her peach shampoo…

And the mustard on her breath. 

He gulped at their sudden close proximity, “What are you-?” 

“Shh!” Her hand clamped over his mouth. Her eyes darted off to the side, and she tried to look out from beyond the alley.

Tired of the games, Luke licked her palm and she withdrew instantly. 

“Ew. Gross!” she wiped her hand against her pants. 

“Your street dog hands were on my mouth!” 

She shushed him again. 

“Oh would you just tell me what’s going on?” he whispered. 

By now, Julie had moved away from him, taking the warmth of her body with her. She peered over at something across the street. 

“Now, it’s LA, and everything’s a gimmick, but unless those guys are an NSYNC cover band, then I’m pretty sure they’re Cupids," she reported back.

Luke was, at first, panicked because he was not only away from his desk but he was out of uniform and fraternizing with a human. Harrison and higher ups would have his head for sure.

But he was also touched that Julie wanted to help him evade his coworkers. It was comforting to know that she must care about him somewhat that she wasn’t going to let anything happen to him. 

It was truly by some divine intervention that Julie’s quick thinking showed up now when they needed it the most. 

Because she sure didn’t have it earlier while talking to Nick. 

Luke dared to look out the alleyway, just to check, expecting the likes of Valeria or someone of high enough caliber to snitch on his ass. 

The music reached him before he saw them. 

Recognizing it, Luke grinned widely, grabbing Julie’s hand once more and pulling her away from the alley, “Come on.” 

“But-” 

“They’re cool. Don’t worry,” 

It was Alex, Reggie, and Bobby out on assignment. What were the odds? 

He and Julie remained on their side of the street, just waiting for either of his boys to take notice of him. It was Alex who spotted him first, thank goodness, and not Bobby.

He stopped playing and nudged Reggie, and the two of them whispered something to Bobby, who then poofed out. 

Now that he was out of the way, they crossed and Luke was reunited with his band. 

“Boys!” he tackled them in a hug. 

They clapped him on the back, laughing, _“Luke!”_

It hadn’t been long since he had last seen them, but he never liked being away from them for even a second. Probably the worst thing about paperwork duty- the less chances for them to all hang.

The two Cupids stepped back and finally noticed an extra pair of eyes trained on them. 

Their drummer gawked, “Wait, is this-?” 

“Alex, Reggie- meet Julie!”

Reggie, the ever lovable goofball, didn’t waste time waving at her, “Greetings, human!”

Meanwhile, Alex, the more cautious one, was slow to come near her. He timidly swatted at her shoulder and yelped when his hand didn’t pass through. 

She turned to Luke, eyebrow raised, “Your friends?” 

“Try ‘best friends’!” Reggie slung his arm over the other two Cupids.

Alex rolled his eyes, “Try ‘the most tolerable coworkers’.” 

“You guys on assignment?” Luke asked. 

Alex nodded, “Yeah, the lovebirds in question are due to show up in, like, 5 minutes,”

“How did you get rid of Bobby?” 

“Told him to get something for us. Made sure Reggie gave the instructions,” 

“I am never clear or easy to understand,” The Cupid proclaimed proudly to Julie, whose charms were already doing a number on the human. . 

She laughed openly, “Noted.” 

“Hey man, since you’re here, as fate would have it, come jam with us,” At that cue, they re-summoned their instruments. 

Luke shot Julie a look, hesitating, “Uh, I don’t know.” 

He knew she didn’t appreciate his Cupid magic back at the drive-in, and he didn’t want to rock the boat again. 

But to his surprise, Julie insisted, “I want to hear you sing.” 

“Really?” He wanted to be sure. 

“Yeah,” her smile morphed into a goading smirk, “Let’s see what you got, Lover Boy.” 

Well, he couldn’t say no to that… 

Taking up the challenge, Luke spun around and his guitar appeared in his hands, the strap already over shoulder upon completing his cycle. 

“Show off,” muttered Julie. 

“Oh the real show has yet to start,” Luke then addressed his friends, “What are we working with, fellas?” 

Reggie snapped and the case file was floating in front of him. Another snap and it was gone, “It’s a routine ‘second glance’ scenario.” 

“‘Second glance’?” Julie inquired. 

Alex explained: “Oh, so like when someone has known another person for a while, but are just now seeing them in a different way.” 

“Huh. Figured this was all ‘love at first sight’ kind of shit,” 

“We do meet cutes, but sometimes we really set it up for a shift in relationship status. Like childhood friends to going steady,” 

“Or friends with benefits to dating” Luke cut in. 

“Dating to… well,” The tall blonde blew out a breath, “Damn, it’s been a while since we got a proposal. Miss those.” 

“Glad that we’re at an age where we have completely outgrown the ‘Flash Mob’”

The three of them shuddered. 

Julie could only surmise, “Those must steal your thunder.” 

“The year we stayed far away from shopping centers and parks…” Alex recalled, a faraway look in his eyes, reliving the horrors. 

Reggie pointed to two women, maybe in their 20’s, on a stroll, having just left a cafe, “Hey. Incoming.” 

Now, Luke would always have a song ready to go, but as a courtesy (and for his own curiosity and amusement), he asked Julie. 

“What do you think?” 

“Taking requests?”

“Here and now. I will not be asking again,” 

“He never asks to begin with,” Alex mumbled to Reggie. 

Julie was on some quick thinking streak. She thought up a song in seconds. 

“ _Morning Benders_. ‘Excuses’. You know it?” 

Again, the boys silently communicated with each other. 

They did, in fact, know it. 

But that song was 5 minutes long and was mostly instrumental and tight harmonies. Luke had always been about the power of the lyrics, he really poured a lot of the feelings into them.

But if they didn’t play this out right, playing this song that none of them had ever practiced as a unit yet, then the couple would pass by, disinterested, without hearing the words. 

Julie sensed their wariness, but she was resolute, “Trust me on this.”

It was a strange thing, Luke mused, that he had come to trust Julie’s judgement, not even knowing her for that long (a month was basically nothing in Cupid time). 

Yet, the girl knew music, and despite the back of his mind telling him to play a safer option, he rounded the boys up. 

“You heard the lady. ‘Excuses’ it is” 

Reggie swapped out his cello for the violin and Alex got out a busker’s drum kit, and they jumped into it, working that first instrumental segment just as the women were now within listening distance. 

He could see them walking next to each other, but not close enough to warrant a confident dating status.

There was some sort of tension building between them. Luke recognized it as things unsaid, things that needed to be said but they were afraid. 

It was like a minute and a half long in the first part and Luke was worried about losing them within the first ten seconds because, not to brag, often times his voice got the ball rolling. 

But no, they stopped. One of them held out a hand to keep the other from walking any further, and they both were trying to locate the source of the music. 

And then it was time for all of them to come in with their harmonies, and although Luke should be eyeing their targets, his focus was on Julie. More like Julie’s reaction.

He couldn’t help but be nervous. This was the first time he was singing in front of her, and he wanted her to think he was up to par with her, or at least not deemed horrible. 

Again, he wasn’t entirely sure why he favored Julie’s opinion, but all he knew was that he wanted to blow her away. 

When it was him next time, his voice and his alone, a shiver ran through his being at the sight of Julie bobbing her head, like she had the day he had first met her, swaying to the sounds, and smiling. 

It egged him on, he crooned the chorus with such fervor that it almost dominated over the equally as powerful harmonies Alex and Reggie were providing. 

_“I made an excuse… You found another way to tell the truth…”_

Ripping his focus away from Julie for a moment, he looked at the women across the way, who had gotten considerably closer to one another, and it seemed the power of the music making them sway like Julie was. 

“ _I put no one else above us… We'll still be best friends when all turns to dust…”_

The taller of the two ladies, with some newfound courage, pulled the other into an impromptu dance, and Luke’s heart stuttered at the sight- because how freakin’ amazing was that? Slow dancing on Sunset Boulevard? 

It was meant to be a joke, them laughing and basking in the silliness. But as the song progressed, it happened. What Alex had explained to Julie- the shift. 

It was visible from over here. Their bodies stilled, the moment of realization of where they were, who they were, and who they were with. The realization of ‘yes, there was only one person I’d be willing to dance on Sunset Boulevard with’.

Their eyes met, and they leaned in, and kissed, not minding it was the middle of the day and they were in the presence of strangers going about on the street. This sealed the deal, there was not going back now. 

Luke and the boys didn’t stop playing until the women, hopefully now a couple, were out of sight. They were holding hands for the rest of their walk. 

“That worked. It worked!” Alex stood up, dropping his sticks, “That was incredible!” 

Luke clapped his boys on the shoulders, applauding them for their killer performance, “Did you hear us? The harmonies weren’t slack, guys. That was awesome!” 

Reggie high-fived Julie, “Never doubting you again.” 

“The song is basically what you guys talked about. The shift,” she explained her reasoning “From something purely sexual to maybe something that goes beyond.” 

The post-performance high halted for a second. 

Alex was puzzled, “We… but we never said-” 

“Come on. Can’t you tell? They’ve been totally casual up until now,”Julie said as if it were obvious. As if there had been a neon sign above the women’s heads that spelled out ‘friends with benefits’. 

Luke couldn’t ponder on it anymore because Julie straightened up, bringing out her phone, inspiration striking.

 _"We were casual up until now’._ That’s a good line,” she whispered to herself typing it onto her notes before she forgot. 

“Woah. Just like Luke.” Reggie commented, “Always jotting down song ideas.” 

Julie stared at him, “You write?” 

“Sometimes,” 

“All the time,” chorused Alex and Reggie. 

Luke shrugged. He had to shrug, he didn’t want to deem himself a songwriter yet, not in the presence of an actual songwriter.

“Maybe I can show them to you?” he tried to say as casually as possible. 

“Not sure if I’m up to the task of poring through all your mushy love songs,” Julie ribbed sarcastically. 

Alex snorted, causing everyone’s heads to turn to him. . 

He cleared his throat, “Sorry, it’s just- Luke? Writing love songs?” 

“Why? Shouldn’t that come easy to you? Being creatures of love or whatever?”

“Yeah, but it’s kinda funny though,” Reggie piggybacked off Alex’s dismissal, “Like, I mean, think you gotta be in love first before you can write a love song, amiright?” he elbowed her side. 

Luke’s eyes widened. 

Fuck. 

Julie now faced him. “Wait, what?”

“Dude!” Alex chastised, smacking their cellist upside the head, not disguising the concerned glances at both him and Julie. 

“Ow! What? Did I say someth- ohhh” Reggie’s hands covered his mouth once it hit him what he just did.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

The horror of what had just been revealed made Luke sick to his stomach. It was like his whole world fell apart, the bubble burst- everything. 

Julie was- fuck. She was never meant to know that he had never been in love.

Because imagine how that fuckin’ looked? Him trying to teach her about love when he himself hadn’t… hadn’t even so much had a girlfriend. 

The Cupid world, in all its irony, didn’t leave them much opportunities to experience love themselves. It just… wasn’t in the cards for them. 

He had never been as embarrassed as he was now. Because it was nothing for other Cupids to know because they didn’t care.

But in front of a human? In front of Julie? It just made him a fuckin’ hypocrite with no experiences under his own belt to qualify him as a ‘love teacher’. 

Luke didn’t remember taking off his guitar or making it disappear. The next thing he knew, he was empty handed and his white Vans were skidding backwards on the sidewalk. 

“I-I should go. Um, before Bobby gets back,” he stumbled through his words like he did on his feet, refusing to look at Julie. 

“Luke-” she tried to speak to him, but he was already off, booking it down the street. 

He had been too frazzled to even poof away…


	5. Chapter 5

Gods, he hated running. 

He really did. 

His legs were already giving out and his otherwise pristine sneakers were getting smudged and it was not a good look for him. But curse his nerves otherwise he would have poofed out in a flash.

To where? Back to HQ where he would be immediately hounded with stacks of paper waiting to be stamped? 

It shouldn’t have sounded as much of a sweet release as it did, but he could not face anyone right now. Not the guys and _especially_ not Julie.

What the hell even happened to him? He used to barely stutter or get this shaken up. He would be the one to roll up his sleeves (if he ever wore them) and charge headfirst into anything. No fear. No regrets. 

But it seemed like ever since he met Julie, she found a way to pick him apart and bring to the surface all his insecurities. 

Again, she must possess some power to humble Cupids. If only she could redirect that power to just about any Cupid other than him at the moment, when his face was aflame and the street dog threatened to make a return trip… 

Racing down Sunset Boulevard didn’t pose a challenge, for he just barrelled through all the humans, like cutting through mist. 

This whole traveling on foot thing was all too foreign for him. When poofing there was a set destination in mind, going from Point A to Point B. 

For Luke, he didn’t know where Point B was. He was going in blind. He didn’t know where to go. Not like there were many inviting places around. A lot of it was riddled with crowds and roarous sounds and overwhelming sights. 

So when the first sign of, well, a sign- one faded, the readerboard letters misspelling the word ‘vacancy’, Luke just went ‘fuck it’ and took shelter in what would be a motel pool that had for sure had seen better days. The absence of any life was a testament to that. 

Climbing over the fence, he made it to a chair that squeaked and was a pound or two from snapping and giving way when he sat on it. 

_Why, oh why did Reggie have to go out and say that?_ Luke mulled over. 

Yeah, his buddy sure lacked tact when it came to- er, everything. So did he, but he had the decency to keep secrets (ahem- the phone thing?).

The thing was he couldn’t blame him either. It didn’t seem much like a secret but more of a fact of life for Cupids- they just didn’t fall in love. Or at least, Luke had never heard of a case of that happening.

Kind of ironic that these creatures of love were incapable of experiencing such things. 

It never made sense to him. If what they were doing was that good of a service, that love was this important, necessary thing that the humans engage in- then why don’t they do too?

For the longest time, Luke would toss that question around, ‘why don’t we love?’ only to be met with responses that equate to ‘we just don’t’. And no one seemed particularly upset about that, already scurrying off to the next job to entertain him any further. 

That didn’t stop him from trying his hand in romance though.

There had been a Cupid he would see around his section a lot. Very pretty, they had worked together on some pairings before he was assigned to Ambiance and she with Interference. She didn’t berate him for asking questions and she had spoken more than 10 words in his direction-

So, girlfriend material. Naturally. 

Luke would do all the things he had seen the humans do. 

He tried to strike up a conversation to figure out her interests (“I don’t know. Getting this assignment done before noon?”), gifted her flowers (“Those are supposed to be for the subjects, Lucas!”), and, when all else failed, he resorted to showing off ‘the gunshow’ (“Why are you always out of dress code? Ugh. Indecent”). 

All attempts of flirting resulted in him feeling stupid afterwards and a reputation for being ‘unfocused’ on assignments to boot. 

And like, Luke knew that there were people who didn’t harbor any romantic inclinations for another. And it seemed as though every single one of his coworkers, apart from Alex and Reggie, felt that way. That was fine. Nothing wrong with that. 

But his coworkers lacked any kind of fondness for each other. Not even in a friendly way like he and his boys would get on. No sense of comradry or anything. 

It seemed there was no room for love of any kind in Love HQ. 

It must have been one of the few things early on that clued him in that he was not like other Cupids. That and his affinity for humans and all things Earth. Because he actually cared whether or not people cared for each other, or if anyone cared for him. 

It had been something he had been pretty insecure about because it had been treated like there was something wrong with him. 

Yeah. He may have acted out, toed the line, and had this Hades-May-Care attitude, but it was easy to play up the role of the rebel, the outcast, if it had been so readily given to you. 

Gritting out a frustrated cry, Luke’s face dug into his awaiting hands. He never meant to be so introspective. But Reggie’s outburst really just opened that can of worms. 

And just his luck, the one person he was trying to avoid eventually caught up to him (And he thought he had the leg up too!). 

A tornado of curly hair rocking a purple blazer swept through, her face slotting in the space between the metal bars of the fence. She was out of breath, a little flushed in her cheeks. 

Luke blew out a sigh. Chasing someone was too much. He was not worth the effort.

“Hey!” She hollered at him, “Have you seen a guy that just ran past? He’s got shaggy hair, a ratty old T-Shirt. May or may not reek of hot dogs?”

“Nope,” he grumbled, muffled by his hands. 

Julie stepped back to faux-wipe sweat off her brow. 

“Oh good,” she exhaled, relieved, “Cuz, I’m supposed to be the only one crazy enough to see him.” 

On any other occasion, Luke would have at least cracked a smile. But he wasn’t born yesterday, he recognized the tactic.

At first, Luke thought he was able to keep her at bay. She was a head shorter than him and wouldn’t be able to get over the fence just as easily as he had.

But Julie, the smart cookie that she was, merely walked around until she entered the building, said a few words to the front desk person, and now had access to the pool area. 

As she was making her way towards him, Julie stuck out like a sore thumb. Everything so dreary, the sun bleached table umbrellas pale in comparison to this girl and her vibrant appearance, maybe even essence if Luke wanted to go that far. 

Ugh. He was already too into his feels.

The chair next to him scooted and Julie now occupied it. 

“Are you gonna ask if this seat is taken?” he remarked, dryly. 

She scrunched her nose. “Nah. I’m just gonna skip all propriety. Figured it’d be too patronizing,”

“Gee, thanks,” 

Julie didn’t try to needle anything out of him. It didn’t feel like she was pressuring him to either, even if it must be killing her to not talk about it.

She kept herself busy, switching between picking the dirt out from her fingernails and scrolling through her phone, as if she was here in this dingy poolside to conduct business.

But the silence, despite having craved for it earlier while looking for a place to hide, Luke could no longer stand it. He was a musician and he just had to fill the static airwaves between them. 

“You can tell me to fuck off to the clouds now,”

Julie’s eyes never left her phone, “Why?”

“Why? It’s because I’m a fraud? I’ve got nothing worthwhile to teach you because it means absolutely jack shit coming from me?” Luke had to remind her. 

Again, there was no reason to have _him_ as a teacher. He had thought just his existence and his experience matching people made him more equipped.

But one lesson in and he was already stumped. He really didn’t know where to go from the movies. Everything he had learned about love he had observed. 

What could he do? Show Julie a ton of movies until she understood? She had already said things would never be like how they were on screen. It would get old pretty fast…

Again, he needed to give Julie that out. It wouldn’t be the first time people stopped believing in him, stopped expecting anything from him.

She didn’t seem cross with him though. Only curious. 

“I never thought what it would be like for you guys. It never crossed my mind that you guys would even have love lives at all,” 

He shook his head, “Well, we don’t,” 

“But, like,” Phone away, Julie leaned forward in interest, elbows laid over the armrests, “How does it work up there? Do you guys not date? Get married? Do you even...” her gaze flitted to his lower body, “...well..?” 

“Yes. We have sex up there,” he rolled his eyes, instinctively crossing his legs, “But it’s treated more like a recreational activity than anything else.” 

Luke had his fair share of ‘encounters’ with co-workers but they never went anywhere. It was conducted almost very professionally and they were, oddly, very economical with their time to do it.

Luke never had no much more than a quick romp in a break room before both he and his partner were, again, off to the next assignment that day. 

He didn’t really care for that and eventually he just stopped engaging altogether, not really in the mood to watch his coworker callously walk off afterwards while he was still fumbling with his zipper, secretly hoping for something else. Something more. 

Julie didn’t seem to judge. She blew out a breath, “Stress relief. Well, that’s one way to do it.” 

“But dating? Falling in love?” he laughed at the oncoming irony, “It’s not something Cupids do. Love is in the job. Not with each other.”

“You… You don’t have families then?” 

Now, Luke could give her the briefest explanation on how it worked.

About how they were all basically created by Aphrodite, some directly and indirectly, but all referred to as her ‘children’. About how they never considered her to be mom. About how most of them had never even met her.

About how no one raised them and they appeared fully grown and ready to be put to work… 

“Those boneheads you met are probably the only family I got,” he opted to say instead, “The only ones I ever really need.”

And that was true. Meeting Alex and Reggie, outcasts themselves, had been a blessing. Like finally! People who understood! Who shared the same interests- having interests!- and liked to jam. 

They got each other through some rough times and his ties were more so towards them than any sort of link he had with Aphrodite, or the higher ups, or Harrison. 

The family subject was… touchy, Luke realized, remembering the case with Julie’s own family. 

He understood why she shifted gears. 

“So you’ve been curious,” she said, “You’ve wondered what it’s like? Romantic love?”

Luke threaded his fingers into his hair. Was he gonna get into it? 

“It just seems so rad,” he breathed, drawing up memories of the millions of people he had a hand in helping-

“I get caught in the afterglow of it. We Cupids have our empathy powers, so I could… I could feel whenever they fall for each other. And it’s overwhelming and warm and-”

He didn’t realize he had moved forward in his seat and was gesticulating and _grinning_ until he saw Julie blink at him, studying him intently. 

“-great,” he cleared his throat, laughing nervously, “See, not really poetic in describing it. But if I could, I’d write it down. Turn it into a song.”

“He’s wrong you know?” Julie said, “You don’t have to be in love to write a love song.”

“Wouldn’t it sound, I don’t know, hollow?” 

She hummed. Then she held up a finger, as she rummaged through her pockets for her earbuds. She handed one to him and she scrolled through her phone, “Here. Listen to this.” 

Luke wasn’t sure what this was about. He dutifully put the earbud in and listened. 

It was a song he had heard countless times recently, as it just started playing in HQ. A new favorite of his and quite unexpectedly too.

It was slow but it was committed and _raw_. The piano had been the mainstay and he couldn’t imagine it played anyway else.

And Luke had memorized the lyrics by heart. Because it seemed to be written from the heart, of this love so true. 

Julie watched him lip sync to it, a smile on her face. 

The song then ended and he returned the earbud, “That was amazing.” 

“You know it?” 

“Yeah. It’s all the buzz up where I work,” 

“Oh,” she tucked her hair behind her ear, “I wrote that.” 

Luke’s brain broke, _“Really?”_

She giggled, finding his reaction amusing, “Yeah. Me. A girl who’s never been in a relationship lasting longer than a couple months wrote the wedding song of the summer.” 

There was some time of Luke spluttering, losing his train of thought or any sense of sentence structure. It took him a minute to… wow. 

“Have I told you how talented you are?” he managed to choke out. 

Julie quirked a brow, “Not in the last five minutes.” 

They both chuckled. Yeah, he may be the president of the Julie fan club lately Maybe rivaling even Nick. But hey, at least Julie took the compliment in stride. 

“You could tap into other things to get that kind of powerful feeling,” she dove in, giving him advice-

“Maybe that’s why for the longest time I didn’t feel like I was deprived of something. Not being ‘in love’. It doesn’t seem required when I write this stuff.” 

“Not even sure what I could tap into. My whole existence is love and music,” 

He wasn’t like Julie. His life wasn’t composed of moments and relationships besides work.

He could tell that her family, her friends might be her inspiration. His boys were his, and he had already written songs about their dynamic, how helping each other and being there for each other. 

But his existence was tied to work. And even when the work was about love and connection- Luke couldn’t bring himself to write about it. It felt like he was trying to bake something after tasting it once. 

“Hmm…”Julie shrugged, “You just need experiences, I guess.”

And it was that, his lack of experience that brought his good mood crashing down again. 

“I don’t think I can help you, Julie. Like I promised.” 

“Hey, I wouldn’t say that. You know what they say. Those who can’t do…” she trailed off, trying to coax out that laugh that was not coming. 

He heard her sigh and collapse into her worn out pool chair. 

“I guess I’m curious too,” she said, kicking around a dying palm frond until it landed in the murky pool, “I’m not deprived. Just… wondering what’s got everyone so far gone stupidly happy,” 

“Is that what we’re looking for?” Luke asked, “ _Happy?_ ” 

It seemed to always go back to that. Happiness. Equating love to happiness.

It wasn’t true. But Luke could see people smile a little wider when in love, skip a little higher. Who could blame either him or Julie to wonder what it was they were missing? 

Julie snorted, “That sounds depressing as fuck,” 

Luke twirled his finger around, “We’re at a motel pool. Not exactly the venue for people who have it together.” 

“Man, if I didn’t have work, we’d so be clinking our beers together,” 

Luke primed his fingers to snap- 

“No,” 

“I wasn’t gonna,” His hand rested on his lap, “I know you’re not into it,” 

“I don’t mind when you use it to grab popcorn or beer...” 

“So it’s just the using it on people,” she nodded, “You don’t have a problem with me singing to them though,” 

“It’s not the same,” 

“A song is a song, Julie. Doesn’t matter if it’s me or someone else singing it,” Either way, he was using music to influence people… 

“I don’t know why it’s different,” she crossed her arms, “It just is.” 

Luke frowned, “So to be clear. Cupid powers are only okay when I’m your own personal Postmates and when I sing? No meddling?”

Julie gave another nod, “At least around me. I don’t really… want to see that,” 

“But they had been a bit too loud,” he referred to the couple at the drive-in “ In their fighting? I really couldn’t hear the movie.” 

“What is it with you and movies?” 

“They’re the building blocks?” was his lame response, “Learned a lot from them.” 

“Always watching. Never partaking,” 

“Yup,” 

“I wouldn’t pin you as a voyeur. You’re more like a ‘hands-on’ kinda guy” She winced and Luke made a move to comment. She held her hand up, “Ignore that. You know what I mean.” 

“Like you said, get experience? I wouldn’t know where to start,” 

Julie fully reclined in her seat, her head tilted back. Her fingers drummed against her temple. 

Then suddenly, she arched forward.

“I think I know just the thing.” 

On her feet, she offered her hand to Luke and helped him out of the decrepit piece of furniture, “I have to get back to work, but I’ll be off in a couple hours. Wait until then, Lover Boy?” 

She began walking off and he followed her helplessly, “For what?” 

“My turn to take _you_ somewhere,” 

* * *

He and Julie made their plans before she hustled back to work, leaving Luke to his own devices until they were to meet back at her place. 

He couldn’t go back to HQ, not wanting to risk missing the plans by a good week or two with their fucked up time differences. So after talking to Julie about life and experiences, Luke found himself poofing to random places around the city for the hell of it. 

He had gone to a high school, watched a soccer game, cheered for either team just cuz. It looked fun. Maybe he could play it one day. 

Then he had gone to a thrift store and looked at the vintage game consoles. He had always wanted an Atari, but there was no way he was able to sneak that back to HQ.

And the last stop before Julie’s place was the beach, where he just sat on the sand, playing his guitar until the time came. 

Luke poofed outside of Julie’s building with a new sense of calm. He never really had the chance to be leisurely with his time, but he enjoyed it.

There were points throughout where he felt a pang of jealousy. Because Julie was right, he was voyeur. Always watching, never partaking. 

But she was going to help him fix that. 

Leaning against the brick, waiting, suddenly a flash broke out to his right and Alex and Reggie appeared. 

“Guys,” he greeted, confused, “What’s up? What are you doin’ here?” 

Reggie immediately brought him in for a hug, “I’m sorry, Luke. I totally spaced and- I just forgot, you know?” 

Luke clapped his friend on the back. Leaving his embrace, he smiled at him, “It’s okay, Reg. Really.” 

“It’s just, I don’t know, Julie’s just so cool. Slipped my mind she was human,” 

“Well, I, for one, have not forgotten that tidbit,” Alex came forward, giving him a quick hug, before he turned solemn, “She’s nice, Luke. But it’s concerning.” 

“What is?”

“Being involved,” He stuffed his hands into his white hoodie pocket, sighing, “Sorry to be the one to burst your bubble-” 

“Yet you’ll still burst it,” muttered Luke. 

“-but don’t you think it’s kinda fishy that there’s been, what? Like, 12 Cupids who had been assigned to her? And all of them had just casually left out the part that she can see and speak to our kind?” 

“We would have definitely heard about it,” Reggie inserted, also confused. 

Luke shrugged. He had wondered that himself but he wasn’t gonna go up and ask Valeria why she kept her mouth shut. She would only turn it around on him and ask him why he wanted to know.

He didn’t need that kind of heat on him right now. Not when he was seeing Julie when he wasn’t supposed to. 

“Maybe Harrison wants to keep it under wraps? Wouldn’t want to scare off the next Cupid in line,” 

“Her file was gonna get thrown out anyway. No next Cupid,” Alex reminded him. And Luke was aware it was the blonde’s job of the group to be the rational one but it was rubbing him the wrong way right now. 

“Look, who really knows?” he said, annoyed, “The fact is- she can. We just gotta roll with it” 

“Just be careful,” cautioned Alex, which was his catchphrase at this point. 

Reggie raised his hand, as if they were in a classroom, “What are you waiting outside her place for? Can’t you just-” he clicked his tongue, pointing to the upper level, “-up there?” 

“Aw, Luke are you too in your head right now to poof again?”

“No, boys,” Luke pinched his shirt collar and let it drop, smirking, “I’m following this human custom called boundaries.” 

Reggie processed that, intrigued, “Oooh. Interesting,”

“Revolutionary,” Alex quipped sarcastically, “But kudos to you for actually respecting her privacy.” 

“Also, she told me to meet here,”

“For what?” 

And great timing on Julie’s part because she was strolling up to them, having just left work. 

“Hey again,” she greeted the other two Cupids

“Human-” The drummer started but was elbowed by Reggie, “Julie,” he grunted, correcting himself. 

Reggie waved, “Hi, Julie!” 

She smiled before acknowledging Luke, “Just gonna get changed real quick and we can go.” 

Then Luke couldn’t hold it in anymore, “We’re gonna go to the fair,” he announced to the guys, super enthused. 

“The fair?” Reggie’s voice got soft, “Like with rides and the games and the cotton candy-?” 

Julie interrupted, “You haven’t been either?”

“We have,” Alex amended. 

“But only on assignment. Never for very long,”

“And never for fun,” 

“Oh, that sucks,” Julie sympathized, “Wanna come with?” 

_“Us?”_ Alex and Reggie chorused and it made Luke laugh. 

“It’ll be great,” 

Reggie was all for it, hopping around, but Alex was mulling it over. 

Luke stuck out his lower lip, hands clasped and shaking in his direction, “Please, Alex?” It would do his friend some good to break the rules a little bit. 

“Come on, man,” Reggie joined in, “Fair food!” 

Alex looked between the two and then at Julie, probably weighing the pros and cons. 

“Okay,” He sighed, relenting, “Only until we get called in.” 

“Yes!” They celebrated and Julie shook her head at their rambunctious nature. 

She was slipping through the door and tossing the keys to her car which Luke caught. “Be right back,” she called back to them. 

“Got it, boss,” 

Once she was gone, Luke pivoted on his heel, stalking off to the garage, not missing the way Alex and Reggie were staring at him as he did… 

* * *

Luke lost the boys the minute they stepped foot at the fair. 

Reggie took one look at the carousel and was already dragging Alex to the line. How they were gonna get on the ride as invisible beings was beyond Luke. But he relished in how overjoyed his friends looked. 

“He always wanted to ride a horse,” he filled Julie in as she led him around the grounds. 

Everything was calling out to him and his senses were in overdrive.

He got wind of nacho cheese and he was this close to being a cartoon character, floating as he followed the scent to where the plate of delicious food was. 

And- wow. All the bells and whistles of the different games and booths that he knew were rigged cash grabs, but it was so tempting to try and nab some prizes. 

And the rides! Luke was a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so the sight of the twisting and turning track and the passengers’ hair whipping around in the wind got him so amped up. 

“You never really told me the reason why you brought me here,” he whispered to Julie, who had one ear bud in. 

“I went on my very first date here,” she said, “I think, personally, that the best dates are things you can actively do. Movies are nice and all, but it doesn’t beat the sure rush of ring toss,” she motioned over to said game, the clatter of the rings hitting and missing the rims backing her up. 

“It’s a good way to let loose and maybe score some prizes. Fairs are great because it could be romantic but also just a place to have fun,” They stopped in the center, “What do you wanna do first?” 

Oh boy. 

Luke didn’t really want to, at least not in front of Julie. But his sight was rooted on the biggest stuffed animal he had ever seen, hanging over the balloon darts. 

She picked up on it and she groaned, “You’re gonna do it, aren’t you?”

“Julie, look around, how could I not?” Luke cried, “I’m a Cupid. Cliche is my middle name.” He knew Julie was so gonna rag on him for wanting to do every fair cliche in the book, but the girl served him with this perfect opportunity. 

“I’d like to maintain my views on real life not being anything like the movies, but fine. Go for it.”

Together they went up to the booth, Julie paying for 5 darts. In her hands, she subtly handed them to Luke under the counter, one by one. She kept one and threw it, and, shock to no one, the dulled out point bounced off the balloon. 

“Ugh,” Then she whispered to him, “Good luck.” 

Luke waited until the guy manning the booth directed his attention elsewhere before launching his projectiles. 

One zoomed through and punctured the board. Two bounced off balloons. And one almost hit the stuffed animal Luke was trying to win. 

“Dammit!” Luke swore he had almost had it. And it didn’t help that the guy in charge had this perma-smirk that Luke so badly wanted to slap off each time he looked and saw ‘Julie’ come close to hitting one. By gods he was frustrated. 

Instinctively, he raised his hand, fingers poised-

“No cheating!” Julie reprimanded. 

“Fine," Luke put his hand away. No snapping, "then let me try again!” 

The girl fished out a couple more bills and handed it to the employee, “You’re gonna empty out my wallet aren’t you?” 

“No, I won’t,”

“Yeah. We’ll see,”

Okay, he had not only had to prove himself to Carnie McCreepy in the booth, but to Julie too. Not sure if she was waiting to see if he would come to his senses and face the harsh reality that was… reality. Nothing at all like the movies, right? 

Well, he was gonna win that goddamn plushie and prove her wrong. 

Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself, while Julie did the same, miming the throwing for appearance’s sake. Concentrating, he aimed carefully, getting that parabolic arch or whatever. 

The dart sailed. 

The balloon popped. 

“Yes!” Luke pumped his fist. 

“Hey, hey,” Julie said, puckering her lips as not to smile, “Don’t celebrate too early. You gotta hit 4 more.” 

“Plan to,” 

So Luke did, following the same technique and- 

All 4 darts hit 4 balloons. 

Julie’s jaw dropped, wholly impressed, “Oh my god.” 

_“Woohoo!”_ Meanwhile, Luke was bouncing around, getting into the booth man’s face as he surrendered the green stuffed animal over to Julie, “Ha, fork it over, dude! That’s right!” 

“Can you not?” she hissed at him, a tight smile on her face as she accepted the plushie from the man. 

“I did it!” 

They walked away, Julie cuddling the thing and laughing at Luke jumping wildly around her as he chanted, “Did you see that? I did it. I did it!” 

“Yes _you_ did,” she said, shoving his prize into his arms, only for it to be pushed back into hers, “Oh no no no.” She tossed it and he caught it as she tried to put distance. 

_“Floating kangarooooo”_ Luke was all he had to say, making the show of shaking it and making it dance, seemingly, by itself, before Julie came running back and gathering it in her arms before anyone saw. 

“Fine,” she resigned, keeping tight hold on the green animal, “And I’m pretty sure this is a wallaby...” 

“Does it matter?” He nudged her playfully much like she had in the car a month ago, “I won the girl a stuffed animal.” 

“You goon,” she rolled her eyes, recognizing the common trope, “One cliche down. What’s next?”

“Everything?” 

“We got all night,” 

“Perfect,” 

* * *

It definitely wasn’t Luke’s (or Julie’s for that matter) intention to try and nail every fair cliche, but both of them made it their goal for the night. 

Starting off as a challenge against each other, it was now a mission to see how many they could rack up before the night was over, much to both of their delight. Luke wasn't sure if Julie was doing this ironically, but he didn't care. As long as she was having fun. 

They met up with Alex and Reggie at bumper cars where Julie squeezed into a car with Reggie and while Alex and Luke hijacked an occupied car.

(Poor 12 year old kid, probably didn’t know why Julie was targeting him specifically…)

They hit up all the food spots, and they split the cotton candy. Julie even went as far as popping a fluff into his mouth, like how couples would do in the movie.

(Reggie tried to do the same with Alex, but he slapped his hand away.) 

At one point in the night, Reggie split off to ride the more extreme rides, while Alex escaped to watch the variety shows.

(“Pig races. Huh,”)

Just as they were finishing up the last of the cotton candy, Luke directed their attention to a photo booth, “Now _this_ we have to do!”

They piled into the tiny booth and in all the excitement of making funny faces and trying to shove the other person out, that Luke forgot for a moment he was a Cupid. 

The pictures came out and he was bummed to see only Julie (and Thomas the Wallaby) having shown up on the strips. 

“Shit,” Julie apparently forgot too. She divied up the strips and handed half of them to Luke, “I’ll fix it later.” 

Luke wasn’t sure how she was gonna do that but by then, the large circular structure looming over the tents filled his vision. 

Holy shit. 

No fair cliche was complete without the Ferris Wheel lookout. 

“Onward!” he bellowed, the lightest and most carefree he had ever been. 

Julie raised Thomas above her head as they skipped over, “Yes!”

Man, it didn’t get old seeing Julie enjoy herself, Luke mused.

If this trip to the fair was meant to get him out of his own head and loosen him up, it was doing that and more for her too. He could tell she had been really slaving over her work at the label, and having to partner up with soul-sucking Nick too?

She deserved all the funnel cake in the world. 

After waiting in the rather long line for what was the most popular attraction of the entire park, they arrived at the front. Julie sassed the lady operating the ride into letting her have the spacious cart to herself.

(“I said 2,” she insisted, puppeteering Thomas into waving at the worker and Luke had to grab his stomach from how hard he laughed at that). 

Space freed up, Luke piled in with her in their little egg of a cart, the plushie in between them. As they were rising off the ground, they spotted Reggie below and shouted at him. 

The sunshine of a Cupid waved back and took out his phone and snapped a pic of them (of Julie, really). 

“You guys have phones?” 

“No. Only Reggie,” 

“How did he swing that?” 

“Mystery to me,” Luke shrugged, “And don’t ask how he has service. Dunno either.” 

Even as they were getting higher and higher, Reggie was still in view, although small. He appeared to be laughing at something he was looking at on his screen, typing away. 

“He seems pretty into that thing,” commented Julie. 

“Yeah,” Luke debated on telling her what the deal was with that but figured that would be the other Cupid’s secret to tell. 

“I thought it was just you. That’s different. But you three...” she peered out, scoping out for Alex but by then there were reaching the top, everyone was like indistinguishable ants to them, “You don’t seem to fit in with the others,”

“Oh yeah,” 

“Must not have been easy,”

“But we have each other. That helps,” 

“I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have Flynn in my life,” Julie understood, “Met her in 2nd grade and have been inseparable ever since.” 

"We don’t have kindergartens or 2nd grade’s but the boys and I ganged up pretty early on. Like you said, we were different and we just clicked,” 

“Must be meant to be,” That was rich coming from the girl who was fighting against fate, but Luke didn’t comment on it. 

“I don’t like to remember what it was like before I met them,” he started petting Thomas, tracing his fingers along his fuzzy green ears, “I kinda thought there was something wrong with me. For wanting the same things as-” 

“Humans?” she finished for him, carefully. 

He nodded, “I didn’t even know I was even capable of love. For the longest time I didn’t know I had it in me. Not until..."

“Until…” 

The ride shuddered to a stop, their cart rocked back and forth. 

Luke gestured to the sight of the fair and the city laid out before him. 

“Until I saw this…” 

It had been a night to remember, the first time Luke stepped onto Earth.

It felt like everything made sense.

Just watching all the people, complicated and beautiful, the city lights dazzling in colors that didn’t exist where he was from, and the sounds- _the music_. Nothing like he had ever heard. It was like the music itself was decked out in different colors, shapes and sizes. 

A place where everyone and everything was different. Different like him. 

It was love at first sight. That he was for certain, with the swelling of his heart and the thrilling chill the breeze brought through as he was looking at it now. 

“You fell in love with the city,” Julie gathered, hands curled around the edge. She turned to him, “You know that’s different than falling for a person,” 

“I mean, isn’t falling in love, being fond of something, despite all its flaws?” And L.A did have many flaws. He wasn't blind to that.

“Yeah, but. L.A will never change. People do,” 

Luke peeled his eyes away from far out and below, now on Julie. 

“I don’t think I’ve known a person long enough to see that. Like an actual person person,” 

No one in HQ changed. It prided itself in uniformity. They had been running things the same for years. Luke didn’t think Harrison was capable of change. He and the boys have been the same as they always were too. 

A darkness washed over Julie for a moment, and she averted her gaze as well, “Trust me on that.”

The name ‘Carrie Wilson’ was on the tip of his tongue but he had enough sense not to damper the mood even further. Not when they were having a good time before. 

Instead, he looked back at the killer view. 

After a while, Luke noticed something off. Their vantage point hadn’t shifted for a solid 5 minutes. 

“Shouldn’t we be moving?” Julie voiced his thoughts. 

They had been stuck at the top for a lot longer than usual. Curious, they, and the other passengers, stuck their head out, to see what was up. 

It wasn’t perfect, their view from the top, but Luke could just barely make out the ride operator throwing some sort of fit over the controls. 

They could hear arguing from not too far away, but even from their height, the figure in all white stuck out. 

“Alex,” Luke was able to pick out the gestures and the stance. It was his drummer alright. 

Julie squinted. “He’s talking to someone down there. Another Cupid?” 

That was boggling Luke right now. There should be two white silhouettes, not one all white and the other- 

Completely decked out in black. 

Dread pooled in the pit of his stomach. 

“No. That’s not a Cupid,"

"Then who is that?"

Luke's grip on the ledge tightened. 

"That's... a Trickster,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a minute. school's on my ass. gonna graduate this sem. meh. 
> 
> there's a second part. gonna post tomorrow. 
> 
> there may be a change in dynamic in the next chapter, but keep note that the summary is still correct. more stuff to come later on... 
> 
> jatp fanworks appreciation week was the highlight of my week. fun to see some of y'all in my inbox and reblogging my stuff and coming up to talk to me. i have a lot of you thank for my jatp experience. 
> 
> hope you enjoy.


	6. Chapter 6

This was not good. 

This was so not good. 

_What was a Trickster doing here?_

A strong sense of premonition boiled and curdled his gold blood. 

Historically, wherever a Trickster was, trouble was close behind. Instinctively, he swung his arm out, barring Julie from looking any more, potentially exposing herself to the likes of the conniving being. 

Julie frowned, still trying to crane her head to take a look, “ _ A Trickster? _ ” she repeated after him, “What’s a-?” 

“Bad news,” was the only description he could give, because right now, he was heavily monitoring the confrontation between the creature of Chaos and Alex. 

This was the first time Luke got a good look at the bastard that had been torturing Alex for the past however many months. As good of a look as he could get 20 feet above the ground, that is. 

The guy had shoulder length hair that had never made contact with a brush, his whole attire loose-fitting and dark, whose contours nearly blended in with the shadows casted by the Ferris Wheel. 

His whole demeanor was slouched, hands stuffed in pockets. Could have been understated if it weren’t for how fuckin’ jazzed he was for sparking Alex’s fury. 

Alex was  _ not  _ vibing. 

Reading the body language from his good friend, the drummer’s limbs were widely moving, whipping between pointing to the Ferris Wheel and him, more specifically his heart- which Luke could assume was beating a mile a minute while he gave the Trickster a good talking to. 

Julie, ignoring Luke’s gentle blocks, spectated the exchange. 

“He’s like you,” she said, the only conclusion she could come to. Since she could see him and if this Trickster could see and interact with Alex. 

“No. Not like us,” Luke was almost offended by the comparison. Yeah, he was known to raise some hell. But he had limits. Tricksters didn’t share the same self-control. 

They could hear some shouting on Alex’s part, some laughing and-  _ teasing? _ \- from the Trickster’s part. 

That only seemed to push Alex’s buttons more. 

Though before any sort of resolution could be hashed out, the Trickster summoned a skateboard out of thin air, threw a shaka sign at the Cupid before skating away. 

“Alright, pop off Tony Hawk,” murmured Julie before settling back into the seat. 

Seconds later, jolting the both of them, Alex poofed into their cart, on the opposite bench. 

“Fucking Trickster!” he punched the bench and stomped, “He busted the controls!” 

_ “What?!”  _ He and Julie screamed, earning some irritated yells from the other passengers. 

The controls? Of the ride they were currently on? 

Luke cursed. He knew it. He fuckin’ knew that Trickster had done something. Julie grasped at her hair, taking deep breaths, but she was not thrilled about this new development. 

“Hang tight,” Alex tried to calm them down, but wasn’t doing a good job staying calm himself, “We-we’re gonna figure it out! Okay? Okay,” 

“Why would he do that?” It was a dumb question. Tricksters really didn’t need a reason to do anything problematic, but when it came to Alex’s Trickster, there had to be some vendetta or something he had against the blonde Cupid. 

Alex blew a gust of hot air out of his lips. “He thought I was on assignment! Because he just  _ loves _ to wreck all my assignments! Can’t believe it!” 

Stripping off his cap, he began to fan his face, “Him with his dumb hair. Dumb piercings. And his voice-  _ ‘Catch ya later, Hot Dog!’ _ ” He ranted, his breathing quickening, “Hot Dog.  _ Hot Dog! _ He must have been spying on us. He knows we go to Sam N’ Ellas. How could he have- ?” 

“Hey,” Julie braved the swinging cart to try and coax Alex from his spiral. She shakily offered up Thomas and Alex, without hesitating, grabbed the plushie and hugged him. She patted him on the head, “I’m sorry. He sounds like a jerk.” 

“Assignment?” Luke was hung up on that chunk of the rant, “Why would he think you were on assignment?” 

The drummer, in his comfort session with Thomas, froze. 

“Alex?” He tried again. 

“Uh... “ he was fidgeting with Thomas’ tail, stalling, “I mean, I don’t think we should get into it-”

“C’mon,” Julie rubbed his arm soothingly, “It’s okay. You can tell us.”

“I’m not sure I should say,” 

Luke was not having it, “Dude, Just spit it out,” 

“Okay! Fine!” Alex nearly exploded, reeling from the argument with the bane of his existence, “He thought  _ you guys _ were my assignment!” 

_ Oh. _

Julie and Luke locked eyes. 

Before quickly looking away. 

‘Awkward’ didn’t cut it. Someone, some Trickster, had thought he… that he and Julie were… 

“I mean, I could sorta see where he was coming from. You’re not dressed like a Cupid at the moment and I’ve been following you guys around for most of the night, so…” 

“Uh, yeah,” Luke waved off, a slight burning on his cheeks, “Never mind about that. How about you find Reggie and, I don’t know, help try and fix the ride?” 

“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll do that. Find Reggie. Fix the ride,” Alex stood up in his hurry, and nearly toppled over the side, “AH! Geez-” 

_ “Alex!” _ Julie screamed, hands reaching out to steady him, “Hey, hey, hey. Look at me?” 

The Cupid obeyed, “Y-Yeah?” 

“You can take Thomas with you if you want,” she offered, a small encouraging smile on her face. 

“I’d like that,” He snuggled further into the plushie, “Thanks.” 

“No problem. Now you should…” 

“Yeah. Right!” 

And with that he, and Thomas the Wallaby, blinked out. 

“So…” Luke said, unsure what to say after Alex practically told them they looked like a couple. 

Oh yeah and the fact they were essentially on this ride for the foreseeable future. 

That was… uh, way more pressing. 

But the ‘mistaking them for two lovebirds’ concept was the hard-to-swallow pill. 

It was impossible to imagine. Yeah, he didn’t really look like a Cupid tonight, but the idea of him, of anyone his kind, even appearing to be with a human? Literally inconceivable. 

Besides, he and Julie were just messing around. They were only knocking out all the couple-y cliches just for fun. 

But only they knew that. The Trickster only had his eyes to clue him in to what was going on. 

Julie, now without something to hold and distract herself with, was going through her purse, her body shifted away from him. 

Seconds later, she produced a paper tray with a napkin covering, “Funnel cake?” she offered, words rushed, not really looking at him, “If we’re gonna be here for a bit?” 

“Did you- Did you just pull that out of your bag?” 

“I have my priorities,” 

Obvious defense mechanism aside, Luke took her up on it. Only because it was better to look at the food than at her, which was probably what Julie was going for too, eyes not having left the tray. Undoing the makeshift cover, they both dug into the slightly smushed treat. 

“I think I cracked it,” Luke said, his lips dusted with the sugar, his embarrassment disappearing with each bite, “Food is your one true love.” He swore this girl was always eating something every time he would meet up with her. 

She didn’t deny it, “It never disappoints.”

“Of course,” 

All too soon, they were finished, their buffer gone, and Luke wished for a drink. But not everything can be in Julie’s purse.

The last time they checked, Alex and Reggie had been bent over the control panel, unbeknownst to the ride operator and the park’s repairman, discussing heatedly with each other on solutions. 

Luke found this funny because those two had little to no knowledge of amusement park ride mechanics, but bless them for at least finding the repairman and, through subtle uses of Cupid magic, luring him to the Ferris Wheel. 

He said none of this to Julie by the way. He figured if she didn’t appreciate his use of magic beyond food and music, then the same would go fo Alex and Reggie. 

A good 15 minutes passed, and besides mild conversation, there were some lingering weirdness from Alex’s bombshell, but they were utterly bored up here. And somewhat scared?

They were on the very top and it would sometimes get a little daunting sticking their heads out to monitor the repair progress. Any rocking of the cart made it feel like they could fall over any second. 

Cupids may have been depicted with wings, but Luke wasn’t one to deal with heights very well. Killer views were great and all, but only for an appropriate amount of hang time. 

So he stretched himself along the bench, forcing himself not to look out and do what he did best- get in his own head, extending his arm along the length of the seat in a relaxed position. The motion made Julie jump beside him. She stared at his arm and he retracted it instantly. 

“What?” 

A hand to her heart, she raised her eyebrows, “Oh my god I swear for a second you were gonna do it.” 

Luke, having a better grasp on Julie and the way she thinks, gave her a pointed look. 

“That move?  _ The _ move?” She nodded, a wry sigh leaving her, but this time it was Luke to be the mocking one, “How cliche do you want this night to be?”

“It's textbook date etiquette, isn’t it?” 

Yeah. Too textbook. Luke had witnessed thousands of people pull that ‘yawn and drape their arm around their date’ trick for years. It did get old after a while.

“It's sweet,” he said, “but unoriginal,” 

“Nah, I see you, Mr. Cupid. Cliche is your middle name and cheese is in your genes. You want to don't you?” she poked his chest, taunting him. 

“Psh. No,”

“We’ve been doing cliches all night, so why not try it? You can't resist,” 

“Fine,” Luke scooted closer to her, “you want me to do it?”

She shook her head, hands up and backing away, “No. I’m saying  _ you _ want to do it-

“Hey, I think what you're getting at is that you secretly want me to do it. For your own interest-”

“It's not a secret. I want you to do it. To prove a point,”

“So I shouldn't do it? Out of spite?”

That stumped Julie, “Wait. What?”

“What?” he repeated, just as lost. 

“I'm so confused!”

“Me too!” 

“What were we even-?” 

“My arm. Am I supposed to put my arm around you or not?!” 

“I don’t know! If you want!” 

“Alright, fine!” Luke just went for it. He faked a yawn and put his arm around her, just to… win the argument? Or was he playing right into her taunts? He didn’t know he just did it. For the cliche. That was what this night was for, right? 

It wasn’t until after he did that it hit him what was happening. 

He thought her cornering him in the alley was close, but this was something else. The girl was plastered against his side and though the kind of contact was not unusual for him, he would be in similar positions with Alex or Reggie. He was a touchy person. 

But it was another thing for it to be with Julie.

Luke had been teasing earlier, that Julie would be just as curious to how this would play out, knowing her dating history and aversion to intimacy, but it was clear, with how awkward this was, that neither of them were used to this.

He almost dropped his arm. He didn’t remember what even was the reason for doing this. A joke? It didn’t seem that funny anymore. He was overthinking this. Maybe it was because with this gesture, in the context of tonight, there was all of this… nuance to it. The stuff associated with it, all of which wasn’t what him and Julie were. 

Knowing this, he kept curled around her. And she didn’t move away. 

If Julie’s job for today was to get him to experience the first semblance of a teen romance, way too green and awkward and never knowing what to do with his hands. Then congrats. He got it. And he wanted to die. 

“So…” his voice cracked- wow, he really did feel like a 13 year old, didn’t he?, “What’s, uh, the verdict?” 

He could hear Julie swallow, clearing her throat, “It’s...nice.”

“I’m not… fucking it up?” 

“No. You’re good,” 

“Ok,” 

They both faced straight ahead, their early bravado from the bantering gone, the rocking of the cart mimicking the motion of a moving cradle. It helped them into a false sense of serenity. If Luke could sleep, he was sure he would be drifting off, Julie might be close too.

It was taking far too long for this thing to get fixed. 

“You’re...not cold,” she mumbled, “I figured you’d be cold.” 

“Like a ghost?” 

“Exactly. Do those exist?” 

Luke personally didn’t know. The only realm he traveled to is Earth, “I wouldn’t put it past the universe.” he said. 

“Hmm…” 

Her hair, wild and free in the wind, tickled his forearms. Her form, frigid at the initial contact, aligned against his, relaxing into him, slowly. 

It was the second time tonight, Julie didn’t argue with the ways of the universe. 

* * *

Luke had lost track of time, unsure how long they were in the same spot, on a swaying metal bucket, hanging 20 feet off the ground, but he and Julie had been filling up their time just talking. Random stuff, really. (The kangaroo versus wallaby discourse had come up again). 

But there was something that Luke had been meaning to bring up for hours now. 

“Never got to ask,” he started, and Julie twisted slightly in his hold, getting comfortable for another 20 minutes that was sure to pass without progress. 

Luke had given in to his new job as her cushioned headrest, mostly because he harbored the guilt of keeping her from her nice, warm bed after a long day of work and chasing him down Sunset. 

As time had passed, he didn’t mind the weight on his arm that had long since been numb. 

Her voice soft, she uttered, “What, Luke?” 

“What did you think of it?” he voiced, his nerves making a comeback, “Of our performance earlier?” 

Julie made a face, pensive, “You want me to be completely honest?” 

He didn’t like the sound of that but he forced himself to nod anyway. Not like he would be crushed if Julie wasn’t a fan of his music or anything, but he held her to a high regard. And whatever she had to say about his abilities, it was gonna affect him in some way. 

“You guys are…” she paused, “...kinda good.” 

“Kinda good,” he repeated, “ _ Kinda good? _ ” He had a half a mind to get up and let her head thunk against the metal bench, “Yo, to be fair, I haven’t played with the boys in a hot sec.” 

“Excuses excuses,” 

“Hey!” 

“Dude. Relax,” she appeased, laughing, and that was when Luke realized she had been messing with him. 

Luke pouted, “Don’t joke about that...” 

The pout only served to entertain Julie, her fits of amusement continuing. She gave his hand a good pat, “No seriously, you have a nice voice. ” 

There was a tug against his lips, “You’re not- You’re not joshin’ me, are you?” 

She shook her head, “I’m not. I like it. I really do. And what you and your boys did? That was incredible.” 

“Really?” Alright, he was outright smiling now. She liked it. Julie liked his voice! He shouldn’t have been digging for her approval, but now that he got it- there was some prestige to it. 

“Yup. Kind of a shame to hear it only in the background.”

Okay, he wasn’t gonna get a bighead about it, but...

“Now  _ that’s _ a compliment. You’re actually complimenting me,” 

He didn’t have to see her face to know that she was fighting back a smile, “Maybe.”

Hearing such words from someone as talented as Julie herself made him sit up a bit straighter. It… meant a lot. For anyone to take notice in his voice for once. 

HQ didn’t care how he sang the songs, just as long they were right for the mood. If his voice warbled or fell flat at any given part, that was for him to agonize over. Every time he would go on assignment, he was committed to give a performance. Even when he received no recognition for it.

But Julie could hear him. She  _ had _ heard him. 

_ And she liked it. _ Her telling him so was something he wouldn’t take for granted. 

His insides were doing backflips at the praise, but it turned out his body was reacting to the sudden lurching forward of the cart. 

The Ferris Wheel was fixed. 

Applause and whoops of relief broke out from their fellow passengers/prisoners, and Julie and Luke couldn’t resist joining them. Yes, fucking finally!

But it wasn’t over for them yet. It took quite a while until they touched the ground since they were all the way at the top. But once disembarking (after getting side-eyed by the ride operator for the blatant lack of plushie), he and Julie stumbled out. 

It was the moment his arm was freed, having let Julie drop to the ground, on her knees, where she loudly proclaimed she would never part from the earth ever again. 

Dramatic. But honestly? Mood. 

They were reunited with Reggie and Alex (and Thomas) and no one argued with Julie that it was time to go, even though they had yet to go on more rides. 

Much like Luke did last time, Reggie and Alex tagged along on the car ride to Julie’s, ensuring she got home safely. 

They parked in the garage a half hour later, and after a long conversation convincing Alex to leave Thomas with Julie (“Man, we can’t hide him at work” “Can I just hold him for a while longer?”) the boys, sans Luke, bid their new human friend a farewell. 

Luke lagged behind, leaning against the exterior of the car just as Julie was locking it up, the overgrown plushie tucked under her arm. 

“Did you have a good time?” she asked him. 

His grin was weary but genuine, “Yeah. I did. We all did. Did you?” 

“Definitely beats my first date there. That’s for sure,” 

“Oh, I think I read that in the-” he broke off, seeing the look on Julie’s face. Maybe not bring up her file and the fact he had intimate knowledge of her dating history, “Er, yeah. The really gross dude?” 

She grimaced, “Mustard all over his shirt? Kept whining about losing to me in games? Tried to do funny business with me on that very Ferris Wheel?”

“Ugh,” Just because he already knew, didn’t mean it was any less painful to hear about it again, “No wonder you humans often say ‘romance is dead’.” 

“Is it?” she challenged. 

He stuck his tongue out at her, not taking the bait, “I guess that’s what we’re trying to find out.” 

_ We _ . 

It was kind of cathartic to finally have admitted his lack of personal experience, it really made him connect with Julie on another level tonight. Recognizing their similar ineptitudes and just, trying to explore all the romantic tropes as they could. To see if they were all that they were cracked up to be. 

Some of them were executed perfectly, others- not so much. But it was fun. That was Luke’s main takeaway from tonight. It was fun. It was cheesy and it was a nice change of pace. 

“You know you said, ‘Those who can’t do, teach’?” Luke echoed her words from the motel pool, “I think you have just as much to teach me as I with you.” 

Julie agreed, “We both have a lot to learn and experience so…” She held up Thomas as proof. She had told him on the Ferris Wheel that no one had ever won her anything from a game booth before. 

“Might as well do it together?” he suggested. 

The teacher-student dynamic hadn’t been working.

Who was he kidding trying to be this knowledgeable figure, acting like he was the expert? It would be better if they approached this more casually. Acknowledging that they were both fucked up and needed to explore this new terrain together? No judgement. 

“Like an independent study sorta system?” 

“Yeah,” Luke went with it. He never went to school so he nodded along, “Equals?” 

Julie considered it, “I think I’ll learn better that way.”

“Me too,”

“Will I see you soon?” 

Luke wanted to say yes, but that was up to how much paperwork he could get through and whenever Harrison went out. But he would figure it out. 

“We’ll see,”

“Okay,” Julie ambled over to the door, leading into her building. 

“Til whenever, Lover Boy!” her voice reverberated through the garage. 

“Goodnight, Julie,” 

She made Thomas wave at him before she left, and Luke enthusiastically returned it. 

Seeing Julie being so far gone on her kangaroo/ wallaby/ whatever, Luke had never been happier for his big win at balloon darts… 

* * *

Luke returned to the break room, now considered ‘their’ room with all the times they frequent it, just in time to catch the tail end of Alex regaling the Trickster encounter again, getting worked up about how this guy was clearly keeping tabs on him and had no qualms stranding a bunch of innocent people on a ride for an hour. 

“Don’t sweat it,” Reggie comforted him just as Luke sat down on the couch with them, “At least you helped out and got the repairman. So thank you, Alex.” 

Then, their cellist noticed Luke’s arrival, and he pat the guitarist on the back, “You did good today too, Luke.” 

“Me?” 

“Always the sweetheart. For staying up there with Julie and keeping her company.” 

Luke kicked his feet up on the coffee table, “Yeah we were stuck, you know.” 

“No,” Alex was giving him a strange look, “ _ She _ was stuck.  _ You _ could have poofed. Maybe helped us out down there?” 

His sneakers slipped off and he nearly faceplanted onto the floor. 

Wait. 

He was right. 

He totally could have poofed. He didn't have to stay on the Ferris Wheel. 

“Oh,” was all he could say in response. 

“Were you trying to?” Reggie asked, “Or was it out of whack again? Were you too in your head?” 

“No,” But that happened a lot though. Whenever he was with Julie. Forgetting he was a Cupid with powers. He really didn’t have a proper explanation for it, “Must have slipped my mind...” 

Luckily for him, the subject changed to more pleasant memories of tonight- 

Reggie had been able to hit half of the attractions, and he was still smoothing his hair down from the major windswept action from all the twists and turns. And for Alex, the pig he had been rooting for, had won the race and while no one was looking, he got to pet them. (“Strawberry was her name. Too darn cute,”). 

“Tonight was fun,” Reggie sighed wistfully, “So much fun.” 

Alex agreed “It was. Trickster aside,” He and Reggie rose from the couch, dusting themselves off, heading for the door, “For a second, it was like we were-” 

“Human?” Luke dared to finish Alex’s train of thought. 

“Yeah.” he said, his smile dimming, “Sorta.” 

“Well. Nice while it lasted,” Reggie patted himself down, giving himself a once over in the mirror. Then he shoved his phone into his sock for safekeeping, “Off to work.” 

“Yo, Luke. Make sure to…” Alex gestured to his getup. 

Luke snapped his fingers, switching back to his white shirt, “Got it. Thanks.”

The door swung open, and they checked the hallway before making their exit, “See ya after, buddy,” 

“Bye, guys,” 

The two left, presumably to find Bobby and return to their cases. Almost like one of the greatest nights of their lives hadn’t just happened. 

Now Luke was up in front of the mirror, checking his reflection and ensuring any remnants of Earth were not on his person. He patted himself down like Reggie did and felt a lump in his back pocket. 

Curious, he took it out. It was the photo strips from the booth, the ones of Julie and only her. 

Seeing the expressions she was making, most of them in response to his own silly ones (though the camera could never capture), made him smile. Even though he wanted to be in the pictures, having only Julie on there was just as good. 

He summoned his guitar, and, for his own safekeeping measures, he dropped the strips into the soundhole, then made the instrument disappear. 

After adjusting his collar in the mirror, Luke, for the first time in history, waltzed into the office, not in a completely bad mood… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i went to the fair once and they had pig races. one of the pigs' names was Strawberry. 
> 
> Also, it has come to my attention that I have Julie eat something every chapter. And that she does seem to be food oriented and I love that for her. 
> 
> enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up this morning with this idea. 
> 
> blushandbooks and ephemeral_joy have been helping with this. 
> 
> you'll see their contributions soon. 
> 
> it's almost 5:30 am. 
> 
> And I have homework due later. 
> 
> So here's another WIP I guess. 
> 
> Happy belated Valentine's Day.


End file.
